


In Medias Res

by metawasteoftime



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Analysis, Canon Relationships, Character Analysis, Character Development, Character Parallels, Character Study, Fandom Critical, Foreshadowing, Gen, Immortality, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Meta, No Plot/Plotless, Nonfiction, Not a fic, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Season/Series 05 Spoilers, Spoilers for Episode: s05e23-24 Reunited, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 05:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 65
Words: 51,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metawasteoftime/pseuds/metawasteoftime
Summary: After some unexpected recent developments on Steven Universe, I found myself trying to piece together my thoughts in hindsight.  Most (but not all!) of these will be focusing on Lars and the humans.  Sorry.  In my excuse, we're in Season 5 and I have thoughts.First chapter is a spoiler-heavy table of contents.





	1. Table of Contents

**Author's Note:**

> in medias res [in me·di·as res]  
>  _adverb:_  
>  Definition: in or into the middle of a narrative or plot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's an ~~alphabetized~~ organized table of contents with provided Tumblr links to the original posts.
> 
> There's a Cookie Cat on the table.
> 
> It winks at you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Confession:** I took an absurdly long time publishing this, despite it being done for a while now. Thing is, I'm already very self-conscious about my meta (and stories) and I will be mostly discussing a character who, until a few months ago, was very much hated by the fans.
> 
> That really shouldn't make me feel insecure, since Lars is now beloved (and fan meta fuel), but it kinda does? I guess, as someone who never disliked him to begin with, I'm still not used to him being this year's fandom darling. The whole thing is just really weird.

Once again, kindly note that this is filled with **major spoilers** for Season 5 of Steven Universe, so I wouldn't advise people to read this collection of meta, rambles, and analyses if they don't wish to be spoiled.

I will be adding links to the Table of Contents as chapters are posted.

 

## Table Of Contents

#1 -  **["Is Lars Going Evil?!"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27106473) - ** [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/165637003019/rewrite-is-lars-going-evil); note this is an expanded rewrite of [this post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/164482867224/is-lars-turning-evil)]  
No, he's not. That door was sealed shut in Wanted.  Not that it was ever made to open. (Followup: #26 - ["Is Lars Going Evil?!" Followup: All (or Nothing) of It](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27590745))

 _Tumblr_ : Sept. 22, 2017 ( _Original post_ : Aug. 22, 2017) /  _AO3_ : Sept. 21, 2017.

 

#2 -  **[Sadie the Spear Fighter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27106527) ** - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/162169989179/i-honestly-hope-all-the-recent-events-on-steven)]  
She has the raw talent. Pearl has the expertise.  
  
_Tumblr_ : Jun. 23, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Sept. 22, 2017

 

#3 -  **[The Fox's Mirror](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27106557)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/163397232549/everyone-keeps-bringing-up-lars-and-the-cool)]  
Foxman's entire role in Garnet's Universe is basically an abridged version of Lars’ personal arc, right down to having a symbolic death and resurrection.  
  
_Tumblr_ : July 25, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Sept. 22, 2017

 

#4 -  **[As Mayflies](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27106590)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/163397247479/the-steven-universe-crew-seem-to-have-a-thing-for)] **  
** The Steven Universe crew seem to have a thing for a rather specific romance trope.

 _Tumblr_ : July 25, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Sept. 22, 2017

 

#5 -  **[Dream& Dream-like States in Steven Universe](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27660465)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/166416271349/dreams-dream-like-states-in-steven-universe)]  
One of my absolute favorite things about _Steven Universe_ is how it depicts dreams and the inner mind of the cast as experienced by Steven.  The show gives some accurate examples of what dreams are like: weird, strange, and completely detached from reality.

 _Tumblr_ : Oct. 13, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Oct. 13, 2017

 

#6 -  **[The Impossible Bloom](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/28158516)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/166449948459/the-impossible-bloom)]  
Do you ever think about how Lars is associated with moss, which in real life can never ever bloom?  
(Followup: #41: [The Impossible Moss Followup: The Moss, The Nerd, & The Tyrant](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30897771))

 _Tumblr_ : Oct. 15, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Oct. 15, 2017

 

#7 -  **[The Scorpion](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/28741672) - ** [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/165756507469/i-was-working-on-one-of-my-metas-when-i-realized-i)]  
Lars' scorpion shirt is a possible reference to The Scorpion and The Frog legend.

 _Tumblr_ : Sept. 26, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Nov. 3, 2017

 

#8 -  **[The Sloth and The Koala: A Discussion](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/28742264) - ** [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/165756507469/i-was-working-on-one-of-my-metas-when-i-realized-i); same as #7, contains links to followup posts]  
A conversation spanning several tumblr posts on the significance and symbolic meaning behind the sloth and koala in The New Lars.

 _Tumblr_ : Sept. 26, 2017 (Followup posts: Oct. 15-23, 2017) /  _AO3_ : Nov. 3, 2017

 

#9 -  **[Simply Ronaldo](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/28742608) - ** [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/166569289274/ronaldo-fryman-for-the-send-me-a-character-ask)]  
Some basic thoughts on Ronaldo. My impression of his character then and now, my Ronaldo favorites, and a story idea. Unpopular Opinions Ahead!

 _Tumblr_ : Oct. 19, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Nov. 3, 2017

 

#10 -  **[Lars of the Stars is Reality](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/28761504)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167103216339/lars-of-the-stars-is-reality)]  
There is nothing to support the theory that Lars of the Stars is a dream, and here's why.  (Also contains some counterarguments regarding some popular interpretations and fears regarding Lars' characterization in the SDCC promo).

 _Tumblr_ : Nov. 3, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Nov. 3, 2017

 

#11 -  **[The Big Donut's Living Dead](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/28977279)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167373112569/the-saddest-thing-in-sadie-killer-is-that-sadie)]  
Sadie is tired and struggling with her job because she’s depressed and beside herself with _grief_ because Lars is _gone_. Gone forever, and never coming back as far as she knows.

 _Tumblr_ : Nov. 11, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Nov. 12, 2017

 

#12 -  **[Reanimated With A Plan: A Quick Ramble](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/28742508)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/166923376739/lars-greatest-strength-is-his-ability-to-make-a)]  
It sadly really is no wonder that so many fans came away with the impression that Lars is a better rebel leader than Rose Quartz.

 _Tumblr_ : Oct. 29, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Nov. 13, 2017

 

#13 -  **[Lars as a Messianic Archetype in Season 5](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29032305)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167500220119/s5-lars-as-a-messianic-archetype)]  
Looks like this is another thing Steven and Lars have in common now...  I have nothing but mixed feelings about this.

 _Tumblr_ : Nov. 14, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Nov. 14, 2017

 

#14 -  **[The Singer& The Rebel](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27590622)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167591553449/thoughts-on-the-whole-lars-and-sadie-are-a)]  
My thoughts on the whole "Lars and Sadie are a parallel to Rose Quartz and Greg" thing that's been going around, which are that there is definitely a Rose/Greg parallel going on with Lars and Sadie. At this point, there’s no denying it. And it’s been going on for much longer than I think people realize.  
(Followup: #24 - [Singer & Rebel Followup: Who Is The Pearl?](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29910540))  
(Followup: #25 - [Singer & Rebel Followup: Why Ronaldo Isn’t The Pearl](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29910582))  
(Followup: #47 - [Singer & Rebel Followup: Pink Mirror](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/34007051))

 _Tumblr_ : Nov. 17, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Nov. 18, 2017

 

#15 -  **[Immortality& Larsadie](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29105112)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167617231739/the-one-thing-ive-always-been-curious-about-is-if)]  
You don’t get with someone because “guaranteed happily ever after,” but because you want to be with them as long as you can, even though it won’t be forever and eventually one of you WILL suffer loss.

 _Tumblr_ : Nov. 18, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Nov. 18, 2017

 

#16 -  **[The Price of Resurrection: A Discussion](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27590910)**   **-** [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167117423039/you-know-the-more-we-see-the-cool-side-of) \+ followups [here](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167147766009/blairakiyama-replied-to-your-post-you-know) and [here](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167150243009/i-always-took-the-notion-that-lars-is-gonna-have)]  
The more we see the cool side of Lars’ revival and how much happier and more confident he seems to have become since then, the more I wonder when the OTHER shoe will fall.  
(Followup: #53 - [The Price of Resurrection: Equivalent Exchange](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/35147165))

 _Tumblr_ : Nov. 4, 2017 (Followup posts: Nov. 5, 2017) /  _AO3_ : Nov. 22, 2017

 

#17 -   **[Steven's Tears](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29123070) ** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167153545113/ive-wondered-if-the-comparisons-to-lion-are-apt) \+ [followup](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167157465639/i-agree-that-stevens-powers-arent-halved-in)]  
Steven's shapeshifting and fusion abilities are different due to him having an actual body with DNA and he has a lot to learn about how to control his powers, but when it comes down to it, it’s still Rose's gem, and that’s where all his magic powers comes from.

 _Tumblr_ : Nov. 5, 2017 (Followup post: Nov. 5, 2017) /  _AO3_ : Nov. 23, 2017

 

#18 -  **[Anxiety Buds](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29703075) ** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168434181024/something-that-i-really-liked-about-lars-of-the)]  
I really like that Lars shows signs of having become a close and considerate friend to Rhodonite, who struggles with anxiety like him. This is good. More of this, please.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 11, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 11, 2017

 

#19 -  **[Stranded Event Predictions](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29774211)**   **-** [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168518415779/assuming-that-the-rumors-are-true-and-steven-is)]  
Some predictions for the long-awaited Stranded event. (Already outdated.)

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 13, 2017 / _AO3_ : Dec. 14, 2017

 

#20 -  **[Their Trust In Steven](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29774460) - ** [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168528258569/do-you-think-its-kind-of-weird-how-the-main-cgs)]  
Is it strange that the Crystal Gems didn't go with Steven and Connie to check on Lars? No, not really.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 14, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 14, 2017

 

#21 -  **[Connie Thoughts](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29775603) - ** [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168549338599/im-a-huge-fan-of-your-su-meta-posts-if-im-not)]  
To be perfectly honest, I don’t feel this fandom gives this sweet girl enough credit. She’s one of the most developed and fleshed out characters on the show, but it seems like fans tend to forget about her when discussing character development arcs.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 14, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 14, 2017

 

#22 -  **[Why I Believe In Ronaldo (Part 1)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29832408)** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167502476079/mambocat-replied-to-your-post-bestknee-i)]  
I refuse to believe Ronaldo is just a filler character whose personal arc is heading nowhere.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 14, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 17, 2017

 

#23 - **[Steven, Lars,& Magic Destiny](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29796999)** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168664032289/i-know-this-is-all-speculation-and-theres-only)]  
 Will Steven think Lars is living his magic destiny? Or will he believe Lars is living his own?

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 17, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 17, 2017

 

#24 - **[Singer& Rebel Followup: Who Is The Pearl?](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29910540)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167967337204/so-theres-a-greg-rose-parallel-with-sadie-and)]  
I’m not really sure there is a Pearl, per se.  Sadie herself acted as the Pearl of the Rebellion to Lars’ Rose in the first season. It wasn’t until the second season that she started to develop into more of a Greg parallel. But, let’s suppose there is a “pining Pearl” equivalent, or will be one. Who then will be the Pearl?

 _Tumblr_ : Nov. 28, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 20, 2017

 

#25 - **[Singer& Rebel Followup: Why Ronaldo Isn’t The Pearl](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29910582) ** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168366445134/mambocat-replied-to-your-post-so-theres-a-greg)]  
I think this would be a very bad narrative choice and perhaps the worst choice for a teen/CG parallel. I say this as someone who legitimately enjoys Ronaldo’s character and personal arc as it’s been developing thus far.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 9, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 20, 2017

 

#26 - **["Is Lars Going Evil?!" Followup: All (Or Nothing) Of It](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27590745)** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168752385779/monobrobe-replied-to-your-post-is-lars-turning)]  
Beach City is a magic hot zone where corrupted gems wreak havoc on a regular basis. That a mentally ill teenager living in this sort of environment would develop this messed up black-and-white mentality that he should be brave and heroic otherwise he’s worthless scum and a bad person who doesn’t deserve happiness (or life) is sadly understandable. (Note: Followup to "Is Lars Going Evil?!")

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 20, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 20, 2017

 

#27 - [ **Will Topaz or Lapis Join The Off Colors?**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29918493) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168742067034/considering-topaz-momentarily-rebelled-in-stuck)]  
Anonymous asked: Do you think Lars is going to be the one who will convince Topaz to rebel? Also what are your thoughts about the theory that Lars will meet Lapis in the upcoming episodes?

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 20, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 21, 2017

 

#28 - [ **Sorrowful Names**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30069219) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168778643799/metawasteoftime-apparently-the-naming-theme)]  
The names picked for the Barriga family fit their last name meaning “belly,” as the bowels are sensitive to emotions and were once believed to be where they came from, but they are all rather sad and morbid.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 18-20, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 25, 2017

 

#29 - [**Stevonnie's Shuttle Origin Speculation**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30243258) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169124820224/theres-a-theory-going-around-that-pearl-and)]  
Did the Crystal Gems build Stevonnie's ship or did the off-colors put it together? Personally, I think there is a perfectly reasonable third option.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 30, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 31, 2017

 

#30 - [**Help Not Wanted**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29797056) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169076826924/stevens-biggest-character-flaws)]  
It’s okay for characters to have flaws. In fact, they’re supposed to have flaws. It’s part of what makes them human and relatable to the audience. And Steven's perhaps biggest flaw in the series is how he can be a really bad meddlesome friend at times, especially in regards to his dealings with the Beach City citizens.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 29, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Dec. 31, 2017

 

#31 - [**Homecoming**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/29797029) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169201371809/something-that-i-really-want-to-happen-when-lars)]  
Unfortunately, it's likely that everything is going to hurt when Lars gets home and I’m not sure how things will work out in the end.

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 1, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 1, 2018

 

#32 - [**Cold Tactics**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30243459) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169098017654/oh-gawd-im-starting-to-get-nervous-feelings-about) and [followup](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169118500384/read-your-last-post-about-when-stevonnie-gets)]  
As cold as it sounds, sending their “guest member” Stevonnie to take out Emerald’s weapons does make tactical sense.

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 30, 2017... ish /  _AO3_ : Jan. 3, 2018

 

#33 - [**The Ill Captain**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30403071) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169375458489/tbh-i-wouldnt-really-blame-lars-for-his-sudden)]  
Anyone who writes off Captain Lars for his breakdown will get  _very_  stern looks from me. 

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 6, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 6, 2018

 

#34 - [**The Fandom's Fatal Flaw**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30428652) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169414168679/im-honestly-dreading-when-lars-gets-back-to)]  
Sadly, the fact that Lars, one of the most broken characters on the show, has gotten a lot of hate over the years for being an insecure walking teenage disaster is completely unsurprising, given the nature of the fandom in regards to how it treats characters implied or confirmed to struggle with mental illness.

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 7, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 7, 2018

 

#35 - [**Unpopular Opinion: Lars' Crisis Shows His Growth**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30431982) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169419095944/unpopular-opinion-lars-crisis-shows-his-growth)]  
Okay, I love how people are defending Lars’ breakdown in LotS and all, but are we really going to ignore how that scene showed how much more comfortable he’s become in admitting how he really feels?

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 7, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 7, 2018

 

#36 - [**Shortcomings Beyond Reproach**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30790896) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/169941565384/if-were-gonna-be-real-here-lars-action-in-lars-of)]  
The actions of Captain Lars, Steven, and Connie don’t need to be justified. None of the kids did anything wrong.

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 20, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 20, 2018

 

#37 - [**Lars' Hero Frontier Step**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30836625) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/165108133449/metawasteoftime-i-just-realized-that-lars)]  
It says a lot about a person when their very first act after finally coming to grips with their fear is to risk a (seemingly certain) violent gruesome death to save someone they basically just met. (Old meta)

 _Tumblr_ : Sept. 3-8, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 22, 2018

 

#38 -  **[Lars’ Shirts + Symbolism](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30837300)** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168703388004/lars-shirts-symbolism-death-resurrection)]  
Death, resurrection, rebirth, immortality, protection (mini-meta)

 _Tumblr_ : Dec. 18, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 22, 2018

 

#39 - **[The Captain's Cascade](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30838164)** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/166920340974/lars-role-in-season-5-has-an-astonishing-number)]  
Lars' role in Season 5 reminds me the ending of Homestuck's fifth act. This is a story comparison ramble that contains Homestuck spoilers, so be warned.  Also, this isn't meant to be taken seriously.

 _Tumblr_ : Oct. 29, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 22, 2018

 

#40 - **[“Steven’s Familiar? Bitch Please, I’m Lars Of The Stars!"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30838323) ** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/164483471824/while-i-still-dont-know-quite-how-to-feel-about)]  
One of the things I like best about Lars Of The Stars is how it completely shoots down several uncomfortable interpretations of Lars that sprang up after Lars’ Head. (Note: Written _before_ Stranded or its official promo aired, though pretty much everything stated here still stands.)

 _Tumblr_ : Aug. 22, 2017 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 22, 2018

 

#41 - [**The Impossible Bloom Followup: The Moss, The Nerd, & The Tyrant**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30897771) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/170107138504/metawasteoftime-mambocat-replied-to-your-post)]  
In which I speculate about the symbolic meaning of the moss blossoms on the show in regards to Ronaldo and Lars, then realize at the last minute that I missed a critical detail.

 _Tumblr_ : Oct. 26, 2017-Jan. 25, 2018 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 25, 2018

 

#42 -  **[Seeing Stars](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30897906)** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/170106425009/do-you-think-that-steven-and-lars-will-end-up)]  
Some thoughts on the possibility of Steven and Lars fusing.

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 25, 2018 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 25, 2018

 

#43 - **[Deceptive First Look](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/30947422)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/170182549069/is-it-weird-that-most-people-didnt-consider-lars)]  
The majority didn't consider Lars a major character for the longest time because his introduction misinformed the audience of the nature of his role on the show.

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 27, 2018 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 27, 2018

 

#44 - **[Already A Crystal Gem](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/31019079)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/170297951449/do-you-think-lars-plans-on-joining-the-crystal)]  
All in all, there’s no real reason why Captain Lars and the off-color pirates can’t be considered Crystal Gems now, other than no one on the show has outright called them that.

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 30, 2018 /  _AO3_ : Jan. 30, 2018

 

#45 - **[Political Favor](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/31093935)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/170417900219/do-you-think-more-of-steven-behavior-will-be)]  
Why Steven continued to help Mayor Dewey over Nanefua even after he was insensitive and unsympathetic over the loss of Lars in front of his grieved loved ones.

 _Tumblr_ : Feb. 2, 2018 /  _AO3_ : Feb. 2, 2018

 

#46 - **[Why I Block The Haters](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/31390926)**  - [Tumblr post (unavailable)]  
I don’t block people just for disliking something I like. Trust me, if the type of hate I've seen directed at Lars was aimed at a character that I disliked, I would STILL block them. ( **Warning: Fandom Critical; Negativity)**  

 _Tumblr_ : Jan. 28, 2018 /  _AO3_ : Feb. 13, 2018

 

#47 - **[Singer& Rebel Followup: Pink Mirror](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/34007051)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/173896837499/ricardoreviews-metawasteoftime-okay-yes)]  
Some more thoughts on the Lars and Rose parallels. (Spoilers for A Single Pale Rose)

 _Tumblr:_ May 14, 2018 /  _AO3:_ May 20, 2018

 

#48 - **[Lapis Meeting Lars?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/34267742)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/174231267099/it-looks-that-way-though-i-have-mixed-feelings)]  
Personally, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. A short meta.

 _Tumblr:_ May 24, 2018 /  _AO3:_ May 31, 2018

 

#49 - **[The Hidden Brilliance of Lars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/34269141)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/174424705829/do-you-think-theres-more-to-lars-then-we-know)]  
In regards to the reveal that Lars is a genius in Stranded, it might just be that none of us thought real hard about what the previous seasons were actually implying about his intelligence.

 _Tumblr:_ May 30, 2018 /  _AO3:_ May 31, 2018

 

 **#50** \- **[Connie's Diamonds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/34270523)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/174425491024/connie-has-been-given-a-lot-of-diamond-symbolism)]  
Regarding the Diamond imagery and symbolism surrounding Connie.

 _Tumblr:_ May 30, 2018 /  _AO3:_ May 31, 2018

 

#51 - **[The Moss Death Omen](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/34270761)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/174434325484/the-moss-death-omen)]  
The beautiful flowers of the magic moss have a dark second symbolic meaning.

 _Tumblr:_ May 31, 2018 /  _AO3:_ May 31, 2018

 

#52 - **[Was Lars Truly a Coward Before Season 5?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27591093)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/174916815119/was-lars-truly-a-coward-before-season-5)]  
It is treated as common knowledge in fandom that Lars was a complete coward before Wanted. While it is true that Lars has always been an anxious and fearful person, I have some misgivings about this interpretation.

 _Tumblr:_ June 15, 2018 /  _AO3:_ June 15, 2018

 

#53 - [ **The Price of Resurrection: Equivalent Exchange**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/35147165) \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/175518902349/oh-theres-my-answer-regarding-the-price-of)]  
Oh… There’s my answer regarding the price of Lars' resurrection…

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 3, 2018 /  _AO3:_ Jul. 3, 2018

 

#54 - **[The Narrative Iceberg](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/35282735)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/175658650179/what-was-the-point-of-bringing-lars-into-the-gem)]  
The mystery of Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz was quite possibly just the tip of the iceberg as it answered only one thing and solved only one problem.

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 7, 2018 / _AO3:_ Jul. 8, 2018

 

#55 - **[The Diamonds in the Psychic Realm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/35338377) ** \- [Tumblr post]  
Were the Diamonds aware of what was going on around them in the Psychic Plane near the end of Reunited?

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 8, 2018 /  _AO3:_ Jul. 10, 2018

 

#56 - **[The Lack of Solid Evidence Against the Diamonds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/35368611) ** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/175713542274/note-this-was-written-in-response-to-the-outrage)]  
I’ve grown skeptical of the idea that every thing that’s been said or implied about the Diamonds is true or that they are truly irredeemable villains. There simply isn’t enough solid evidence for us to make that claim.

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 9, 2018 /  _AO3:_ Jul. 11, 2018

 

#57 - **[Organic Life?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/35678373) ** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/175727478659/yellow-diamond-how-is-the-earth-peridot-its)]  
I feel like I may have missed yet another important spot check regarding the Diamonds in Message Received.

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 9, 2018 /  _AO3:_ Jul. 21, 2018

 

#58 - **[Death Omens](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/35785572) ** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/175771017789/when-did-the-crew-foreshadow-killing-off-lars)]  
Lars seemed incapable of taking two steps without foreshadowing for his death/resurrection coming up, though it’s true there wasn’t a whole lot of foreshadowing for him coming back pink (aside from perhaps Lars and the Cool Kids) or becoming a space pirate.

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 11, 2018 /  _AO3:_ Jul. 24, 2018

 

#59 - **[Shaped By The Author's Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/35785398) ** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/175846344474/adding-to-your-bit-about-lars-symbolism-not-sure)]  
The plot and recurring themes of Steven Universe were very likely inspired by Rebecca Sugar's Jewish beliefs.

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 13, 2018 /  _AO3:_  Oct. 1, 2018

 

#60 - **[The Leak, The Bingo,& The Skeptic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/37733819)** \- [multiple Tumblr posts]  
In which I share my skepticism about certain supposed leaks regarding Lars' future and CN's bingo cards for Steven Universe.

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 16, 2018 - Jul. 27, 2018/ _AO3:_ Oct. 6, 2018

 

#61 - **[The Necessity of Lars' Past](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/37903007)** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/176470359304/i-think-a-lot-of-people-do-miss-why-the-beach-city)]  
Lars' growth in Season 5 wouldn't be half as meaningful if we didn't see his life before space.

 _Tumblr:_ Jul. 30, 2018 / _AO3:_ Oct. 9, 2018

 

#62 - **[A Secret Expression of Self](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/37990964)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/178619298739/i-literally-just-noticed-lars-secret-cookbook-is)]  
There are multiple clues that Lars made his “lame” secret cookbook from scratch.

 _Tumblr:_  Sept. 30, 2018 /  _AO3:_  Oct. 9, 2018

 

#63 - **[Trust](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/37991306)**  - [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/178798229194/okay-so-lars-was-naked-in-bed-when-steven)]  
A quick observation about Lars' waking moments in The New Lars.

 _Tumblr:_  Oct. 6, 2018 /  _AO3:_  Oct. 10, 2018

 

#64 - **[Lars Will Forget](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/39313366)** \- [[Tumblr post](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/180530302864/i-had-a-couple-of-really-sad-dreams-when-i-was)]  
So many bad things have happened to Lars at this point that the worst thing that can happen to him now that hasn’t already happened (on some level) is if he lost his memories of the events of Season 5. [Discarded Theory]

 _Tumblr:_  Nov. 26, 2018 (technically August) /  _AO3:_  Dec. 3, 2018

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Edits:**  
>  Dateless update: added a temporary "End Chapter" number to give people an estimate on how many analyses, rambles, and meta posts are in the works.  
> 1-22-18 update: Raised the End Chapter number from 50 to 70.  
> 1-23-18 update: Added dates to table of contents.  
> 6-01-18 update: Raised the End Chapter number from 70 to 90. There are 36 chapters currently in drafts.  
> 7-11-18 update: Moved all drafts to new location. Work is now listed as complete, but will continue to be added to as chapters are completed.  
>  **7-24-18 update: You know what? I'm not even going to bother with an end chapter number.**


	2. "Is Lars Going Evil?!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, he's not. That door was sealed shut in Wanted. Not that it was ever made to open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This has been cleaned up and expanded from the original post from Tumblr.
> 
>  ~~This is also outdated, since I'm pretty the evil Lars theory is very dead now.~~ Oh never mind. Apparently it is alive and well.

_"Is Lars going evil?!"_

**No. No, he is not.**

I would say it’s bizarre the fan theorists were so quick to go there in reaction to Captain Lars laughing like Lelouch in the recent SU leak, but I honestly don’t know what I was expecting. 

Lars is the _last_ character I would expect to turn evil at this point.  Not between appearances at the drop of a hat with absolutely zero build up.  If fans think he could, then they _still_ don’t understand his character. That door was sealed shut in Wanted.  Not that it was ever built to open to begin with. 

The show spent _four seasons_ (technically three) insisting in every way it could that Lars is a good but very flawed person who _wants_ to be good beneath his uncaring jerk facade that's always been implied to be a defense mechanism.  This was even one of the things many fans cited to be a huge source of frustration with his character before Season 5.   Outside of openly stating it through Sadie and Steven, the show kept him surrounded with symbolism and foreshadowing to this effect at all times, even using elements of the Hero's Journey archetype during the final episodes of Season 4 and throughout the Wanted special for Lars' personal arc, with Steven playing the part of the mentor to his hero. 

The Wanted special heavily utilized the Rule of Three to emphasize just what sort of person Lars is underneath his mask of not caring.  Three times, Lars expressed frustration with his constant state of fear with specific mention of wanting to help others. Three times, Lars lamented acting cowardly in the face of trouble, running and hiding when others needed him. Three times, Lars faced a dilemma where sacrificing himself was presented as the only option to save some kind strangers he just met.  And he did. And died.

Despite fear and uncertainty, and even though he was the only person present who would've been _safe_ from harm had he done nothing, he still chose them over himself every time without hesitation, even suffering a brutal and agonizing death to protect everyone.  Even after this, after being accidentally resurrected as a magical being that doesn't need sustenance and may or may not be immortal, he still urged them to use the portal in his head to go to Earth so they could be safe and live freely, knowing he would be trapped alone on Homeworld forever if they did.

Lars never even gives a self-benefiting second motive for wanting to be heroic at any point, something unusual coming from _Steven Universe_ , which has previously come off as a cynical series when it comes to heroic motivation.  He's not trying to fill someone's shoes.  He's not naive about what heroism entails like Steven had been before Jasper came to Earth; he already understands and fears the danger.  He isn't fighting to honor someone's memory. He's not fighting for a place where he can be himself. He isn't desperate for there to be more to his life or seeking an escape from an ordinary life.  His motivation doesn't seem to be a desire to protect his home planet either, since when he finally rushes into action, he's on an alien planet (in an entirely different _galaxy_ from Earth) and protecting a group of helpless gems he’d only just met and had cowered from behind Steven only a minute before.

Prior to meeting the Off Colors, his typical reaction to stressful or dangerous situations was to either lash out at his friends, run away, hyperventilate and suffer a panic attack, or cry like a small child.  Before he died and came back with Lion's powers, he was just an ordinary mentally ill teenager with anxiety seeking social acceptance.  Lars never had anything to gain from becoming a hero nor did he show any sign of craving adventure, finding it terrifying and stressful, and yet the underlying belief that he _couldn't_ be a hero, couldn't do _anything_ , because of his fear (because "heroes are never afraid") left him in tears.  And that was it.  I could understand if the narrative left it at "he feels ashamed for fleeing when Sadie needed him" but it doesn't.  That was presented as merely the breaking point.

For a long time, I was actually really confused by Lars' actions in Wanted.  I considered the possibility that Lars might've wanted to punish himself for his past cowardice and poor treatment of his friends.  I was even somewhat convinced he must be a death seeker or at least a martyr without a cause.  Why else would he risk his life and sacrifice so much for people he just met without hesitation?  It wasn't until I scrutinized over his actions and dialogue in Wanted (and, indeed, throughout the series) that I realized this isn't actually indicated at any point.  While he seems to romanticize the idea of heroic sacrifice on some level, even directly describing self-sacrifice as a beautiful act, he wasn't all that torn up when his offer to stay behind was rejected.  Aside from a very brief confused protest, after they explained their reasoning for not abandoning him and accepted him as one of their own, he gladly accepted their decision with perhaps one of the most heartwarming smiles on the show to date. 

In other words, while his own life was clearly not on his list of priorities, it doesn't seem like Lars was exactly leaping to throw it away either. He just wanted to protect everyone. Lars is _just. that. good_.

Then, after all this, as the cherry on top, the _coup de grâce_ to the possibility of Lars reappearing as a villain next time he shows up, the end of his final conversation with Steven called to attention just how tightly his sense of self-worth is wound up in his mentality toward bravery and heroism one last time:

> STEVEN: But it doesn't feel right to just leave you here.
> 
> LARS: You said yourself that everyone on this planet is out to get you. You won't be safe until you're back on Earth.
> 
> STEVEN: But, Lars-
> 
> LARS: Don't argue with me! You're always trying to help me. You brought me back to life. **Just let me be somebody who deserved it.**

Many fans, including myself at first, have interpreted this line to mean Lars doesn't feel he deserves to live and/or he seeks pay Steven back and atone for his past behavior and cowardice. I think both interpretations are true, at least to some extent, but the strange wording suggests something else: that Lars considers being brave and helping someone else, even if it's painful and means giving up something he wants, acting as a hero would, as being “somebody who deserved” to be brought back to life. Of course, to be selfish in regards to Steven’s safety after he’d just brought him back to life would’ve been reprehensible, but to say he wouldn’t deserve to be alive _at all_ if he didn’t help him?  That's harsh. 

In light of Lars’ overall attitude and choices in Wanted, the implication of this goes even further. That without bravery and helping others, without turning away from his old cowardly nature, Lars _does_ view himself as undeserving of life. That it’s through being brave and helping others, being a hero, that he truly feels he has any value.

And people think Lars could show up laughing mad with sadistic evil in his ** _very next appearance?_**   That doesn’t make a lick of sense.  It would betray _everything_ we've been shown about his character beneath his (now very broken) facade of being an uncaring jerk.  If Lars views himself behaving like a selfish cowardly bystander – a _neutral_ party – in such a harsh and unforgiving light, how do you think he’d take it if he started heading down that path?  Could the young hero who gave his life to protect some kind strangers and was willing to stay behind if it meant they would be free really dive into sadistic villainy without a second thought?  Would he really be able to hold his head high after that?

The very first episode of Wanted made it abundantly clear that Lars admires and wants to be like Steven, who he has dryly described as someone who “likes everything” in the past.  It is implied he has secretly felt like this for a long time.  Unless possessed or absolutely brainwashed, Lars would _know_ what he’s doing on some level.  Steven would be helping people, not hurting them; he would care. 

Even _ignoring_ all that was said and done in Wanted, Lars is surrounded by friends to keep him grounded.  If he does go evil, the Off Colors will try to stop their beloved captain and sworn protector or at least rebel against him, and Steven can literally find Lars wherever he goes as long as he has Lion.  He would be a ridiculously easy to track villain and no trouble to detain.  Even if he's learned how to create portals, he can't escape through them if he can't reach them.  Lars becoming a villain would just be anti-climatic and serve no purpose other than throwing in some unnecessary additional angst for Steven and wasting a perfectly good character.

Besides,that would be too cynical for “there are no true villains” Steven Universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just... let the poor boy rest. He's earned it.
> 
> Followup: [All (or Nothing) of It](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27590745)


	3. Sadie the Spear Fighter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really hope this show is leading up to Sadie getting spear lessons from Pearl. Or, you know, anything else that involves her taking on a more active role.

I honestly hope all the recent events on Steven Universe are leading up to Sadie deciding to learn how to fight and take on a more active role after spending _three seasons on the sidelines_ despite showing she can hold her own as early as Island Adventure.

She’s already been shown to be handy with a spear.

Just like a certain gem who likes to teach and has already trained one human how to swordfight.

Pearl wasn’t actually adverse to training Connie _before_ she expressed her desire to fight alongside Steven to protect the earth. As such, there’s not really a clear reason why she’d turn Sadie down if she requested training. Especially when her last human student did so well.

 


	4. The Fox's Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foxman's entire role in Garnet's Universe is basically an abridged version of Lars’ personal arc, right down to having a symbolic death and resurrection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that Lars and Foxman share the same voice actor. I knew, but I forgot to mention it because I thought it was common knowledge.
> 
> Also despite the first line, people have mentioned all this (and then some) a few times now.

Everyone keeps bringing up “Lars and the Cool Kids,” “So Many Birthdays,” and “Greg the Babysitter” in light of the events of SU Season 5′s Wanted special and that is all well and good, **but** I’m honestly surprised I haven’t seen anyone bring up “Garnet’s Universe” and Foxman because, oh my god, _Foxman_.

His _entire role_ is basically an abridged version of Lars’ character arc from Season 1 to Wanted.

**Introduced acting like a jerk…**

  


**Mistaken for burglar…**

> RINGO: It was then that the Foxman double-crossed me. He used the power of the gem to banish me from my own shrine. Ever since then I’ve been searching for someone strong enough to help me. 
> 
> GARNET: That gem must be contained. No one should have that much power. _  
> _

>  MARTHA: Our Lars – A burglar.
> 
> DANTE: **Now, now, you know we’ve been ready for this day.** _  
> _

**Actually not a bad guy; just unpleasant and misunderstood…**

>  GARNET **:** Now give back the gem.
> 
> FOXMAN: But I’m the sworn protector of the gem. What did that liar tell you?

**Fights to protect a gem…**

> GARNET: Foxman! Give us the gem!
> 
> FOXMAN: What? *looking at Ringo* You again? Oh, I see what this is. If you want the gem, you’ll have to defeat me.

**but then…!**

  


**tragedy strikes…**

> GARNET **:** We will avenge you, Foxman.

**and, through the power of a magic gem…**

  


**the tragedy is undone.**

  


Note: Despite being posted _after_ July 21, 2017, the draft of this was written up _before_ the SDCC promo for Lars Of The Stars aired, and it was posted as is.


	5. As Mayflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Steven Universe crew seem to have a thing for a rather specific romance trope.

There seems to be a lot of Mayfly-December and mortal/immortal ships in _Steven Universe_ these days.

We have Rose/Greg, naturally.

Steven/Connie starts out pretty normal. But then it turns out he's fourteen, but has looked the same since he was eight and nobody knows how long he’ll live or even how he’s gonna age.

And now there’s Pearl and the mysterious "S".

There’s really not much in the way of human/human ships outside of a couple of married couples who don’t get much spotlight.

There’s pretty much just Sadie and Lars

a perfectly normal dysfunctional and uncomfortably awkward human teenage relationsh–

**shit.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While it isn't yet known if Lars is actually immortal or not, it has been confirmed that he will live _much_ longer than a normal human. How long exactly is currently unknown, but a 1000 years is the most common estimate.


	6. Dream States in Steven Universe

In real life, I have been known to be a bit obsessed with dreams and the unconscious mind.  I taught myself how to lucid dream, I’ve kept several dream journals over the years, I read books on why we dream... it’s just something that fascinated me, especially back when I was struggling with severe depression and recovering from a rather traumatic experience.

One of my absolute favorite things about _Steven Universe_ is how it depicts dreams and the inner mind of the cast as experienced by Steven.  The show gives some accurate examples of what dreams are like: weird, strange, and completely detached from reality.  As Steven told Pearl:

> _“dreams don't always make sense. When you dream, the thoughts in your head get all mixed up into a weird movie. And they're really hard to explain, which is why they're boring to listen to.”_

The earliest example of dream-like imagery in SU is, I believe, the fake Beach City from Rose’s Room.  I’m not sure, but I suspect that the cloud city was inspired by dreams for its surreal, creepy effect.

I don’t think I need to discuss all the little ways that the show made it pretty clear that nothing is real, from little things like how the outside of Steven’s room is featureless darkness, how the inside of It’s A Wash is too _bright_ , how the sky is too dark and too full of stars (all white, in contrast to the different colors used in the real Beach City sky) to the big things like the fry bits loop.

Rose’s Room is the only example on the show so far where this dreamlike quality has been used to hint that nothing is real and something is wrong, and it does it realistically and not at all subtly. No matter how much detail is put in a dream, it always comes apart upon closer inspection. That’s why reality checks are an important part of learning to tell when one is dreaming or awake. 

The first time we see the show depict an actual dream is in “Lion 3: Straight to Video,” where Steven has a dream about playing checkers with Dogcopter.  Much like in Rose’s Room, everything is depicted in a surreal manner.

The clouds and water are all aqua while the sky is yellow, with a sun that’s darker than the sky.  Dogcopter is sitting like a person (yet is still able to scratch his ear like a dog) and, for some reason, they are playing checkers on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere.  Everything except Steven and Dogcopter is drawn in a simplified manner.

Dogcopter wins the game of checkers with a previously unseen queen chess piece and an impressed Steven asks him how he became so talented. The advice Dogcopter gives him is good (be true to yourself), but given in a rather oddly worded way.  Dogcopter’s mouth also doesn’t move as he speaks and he eats the queen piece.

Everything in this dream is complete nonsense and can’t be mistaken for the show’s version of reality.  Rather obvious considering Dogcopter’s presence, but this is true even for dreams where the characters who appear are just Steven, the gems, or the people of Beach City, regardless of who the dreamer is.

( _Pearl’s projected dream from “Chille Tid” and Kiki’s nightmare from “Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service”_ )

“Chille Tid” features quite a few of Steven’s dreams, starting with a black and white parody of old family sitcoms.  This is perhaps the most coherent dream shown on SU to date, but still obviously detached from Steven’s reality with the gems appearing as humans and the set of Steven’s living room missing two walls and his bedroom area.

The dream is presented in black and white until Lapis makes a splash of creepy and color.

Steven’s next dream is much less coherent, being a colorful string of weird mismatched information like Dogcopter meowing, Pearl’s giant head eating Steven and spitting him out with rocket upgrade, and Amethyst riding a whale.

It isn’t until he comes across Lapis that things take a jarring leap into realism, because Steven is no longer in his own dream, but encroaching on the consciousness of another person.

Despite Steven and Lapis sharing a conversation, there’s still a lack of realism here.  We know Lapis is currently fused with Jasper, not floating in the ocean alone, and Steven is asleep in his room.

( _We also know there’s no giant Amethyst mouths in the ocean.  That would be weird_ )

Steven’s dreamscape is even more of a jumbled mess when he goes to sleep again and enters a lucid dream.

 

> _**Steven:** Oh! I know this is a dream now! So I can imagine anything I want. Uh... *reaches into pocket* Mashed potato! *pulls out a small grey fish* Hmm...  
>  _

While this depiction of a lucid dream isn’t perfect, it’s pretty close.  Lucid dreams tend to contain fewer details than a normal one and even if you know you’re dreaming, it actually takes some practice to be able to imagine whatever you want.

Of course, at this point, he falls into Malachite’s mental realm and sees the struggle going on between Lapis and Jasper.

We see glimpses of the subconscious (or “mind realm”) of several characters outside of Steven, though the only reason we see any of these is because his magic allows him to be involved, because _the whole show is either shown from Steven’s perspective or told to him_ with only two to three exceptions (two of which are from Lars’ perspective, perhaps because Lars later opens up to Steven).

Like dreams, these glimpses are surreal and detached from reality.   However, unlike most of the dreams shown in SU, which appear to be just random for the most part, these images seem to reflect the character’s mood and psyche.  At least to some extent.

Naturally, most subconscious imagery comes from Stevonnie.  None of which can be mistaken for their reality, as shown when they start to have an anxiety attack at a rave in “Alone Together.”

When they’re meditating with Garnet by the beach on letting go of troubled thoughts in “Mindful Education.”

  


When Steven is overcome with troubled thoughts about his mother and the gems he couldn’t help while training with Connie as Stevonnie against Holo-Pearls later in the same episode.

And when Steven consumed with anger and bitterness over Kevin’s nasty attitude toward them back in Season 1 while they’re racing him in “Beach City Drift” in Season 3.

We see more surreal imagery when Steven communicates with the Cluster’s component gem shards, though this is the one time the line between the physical and the mental is left ambiguous. 

The audience can see that Steven isn’t physically in the cluster; he’s unconscious in the drill with Peridot.  Despite this, he is capable of bubbling individual shards from within the Cluster.  

Or at least this is what appears to be happening.  Perhaps he is only dreaming that he’s bubbling the shards while in their mind and this gives them the idea to bubble themselves.  Either way, this internal moment has an element of ambiguity to it.

 **Final Thoughts:** _Steven Universe_ has consistent world-building rules that aren’t shared by reality and dreams alike.  No mental imagery of any kind is shown without some form of transition and the line between reality and mental imagery being clearly drawn.   It would be impossible, or at least very difficult, for the writers to pull off an episode with a surprise dream reveal ending without betraying this narrative style that has been consistent up to this point in the series.


	7. The Impossible Bloom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever think about how Lars is associated with moss, which in real life can never ever bloom?

Do you ever think about how Lars is associated with moss, which in real life can never ever bloom?

Even on the show itself, there is no indication from the Crystal Gems that the moss _can_ bloom.  In fact, it is strongly implied that **the moss has never bloomed before** _._   Otherwise Rose wouldn’t have been able to raise and tend it on the hill as the whole thing would’ve blown away as blossoms, and the other gems would’ve remembered the moss becoming something beautiful.

> GARNET: It's the moss that Rose Quartz raised on the hill.
> 
> STEVEN: My mom planted this stuff?
> 
> PEARL: Rose Quartz used to climb that hill every spring and tend to the moss at the top. *shows projection of Rose tending to the moss* But now that Rose is... gone, the moss is on the move!
> 
> STEVEN: *makes a disappointed face* It's lost.
> 
> AMETHYST: It's not lost. It's gross.
> 
> PEARL: Yes, but Rose loved it anyway. She saw the beauty in everything, no matter how gross. 

Pearl is in total agreement with Amethyst here, but her attitude toward the moss is completely different after it blooms, as shown in “Keep Beach City Weird”: 

>  PEARL: Oh! It’s the flowers from Rose's moss.

Both botanical reality and the narrative treat the magic moss blooming like an **impossibility**.

The moss blooming is pretty much agreed to be foreshadowing for Lars' eventual character development from a “useless stupid coward,” which he (and sadly much of the fandom) believed impossible until “Off Colors.”  However, I think this might not be a hundred percent accurate interpretation. 

Not just because it ignores this “impossible” subtext entirely, but because the moss couldn’t do _anything_ without Steven and Lars’ help.  The hill was too far away and the boys had to carry it all the way there.  The moss itself was just a nuisance. 

Unlike the moss, Lars has a _lot_ of agency in his own character development for the most part. Steven and Sadie can’t and _don’t_ carry Lars through his character development.  In fact, a major recurring theme in Lars’ episodes is that they _can’t_ carry Lars through.  **Any growth and change Lars goes through _as a person_ is ultimately up to him**.  Even in Wanted, Lars’ growth, for the most part, ultimately comes through his own choices and desire for change rather than Steven spoon feeding character growth to him.

A recurring lesson in Lars’ episodes before Wanted seems to be “ **you can’t change someone. _Period_**.”  Even if they _want_ to change, it’s up to them, _not you_. Any attempt to change them is liable to cause more harm than good and won’t make anyone happy.  This is _such_ an important lesson for kids to learn.

Sadly, many fans have misinterpreted the lesson from Lars’ episodes prior to Wanted as “you can’t change someone unless they _want_ to change,” mistaking Lars’ slow growth and frustration at Steven’s shenanigans as a desire not to grow and change as a person, instead of the result of a tragic internalized belief that growth and change is _impossible_ and pointless to pursue, something hinted throughout the series and later confirmed in Wanted. 

> _“Why do you think I'm capable of anything?! You think I can do all this stuff, but I can't! I can't because... I'm a wuss, Steven.”_

I think it makes more sense to equate the moss to Lars’ hopeless mindset, his belief in his own worthlessness and incapability to grow, and the moment the moss bloomed to his epiphany in “Off Colors” that allowed him to mature.  The moss was “trying to bloom,” _wanted_ to bloom (an impossibility), but it was lost in a dark place and needed help finding the light.

Lars had to realize he _can_ be better than he thought he could and to hear it’s okay to be scared, that being afraid doesn’t mean broken and incapable. He needed to “ _see the light._ ”


	8. The Scorpion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lars' scorpion shirt is a reference to The Scorpion and The Frog legend.

The scorpion shirt is honestly one of the more interesting shirts Lars has worn, even though it is destroyed in the same episode it debuts in, because of how it symbolically ties into both Lars' mentality at that point in the series and the episode's conflict rather specifically, while also following Lars' implied death/rebirth motif.

Aside from being a clear attempt to get Buck’s approval after he called Lars’ snake shirt nasty back in "Lars and the Cool Kids," the scorpion shirt looks like a clear reference to the scorpion and frog legend.  "Joking Victim" shares a lot of thematic similarities to the legend.  Like The Scorpion in the legend, Sadie (The Frog) is metaphorically carrying Lars at the time this episode takes place, only for him to sting her later by taking advantage of her kindness to get out of work.

It has been implied that, at the time of this episode, Lars feels much like The Scorpion, incapable of changing and becoming a better person.  However, unlike The Scorpion, who couldn't help but hurt its own friend due to its inherent nature, he _can_ change and acting in such a manner ultimately isn’t him being true to himself.  When the image of the scorpion ends up scorched, it arguably represents how, even though Lars gave up on himself long ago, he’s still growing into a better person anyway because deep down he truly does _want_ to be good; he's not The Scorpion.

The scorpion symbol also seems to re-enforce Lars’ connection with Rose Quartz as the scorpion is said to be one of the lesser sacred animals of the love and war goddess Ishtar, who Rose draws a lot of influence from (it wouldn’t be the first or last time Lars was associated with Ishtar or her sacred menagerie).

Lastly, it arguably symbolizes and foreshadows his eventual fate as the scorpion is also a symbol of death, resurrection/rebirth, and immortality as Lars is surrounded by a _lot_ of symbolism to that effect, which is notable because other characters _aren’t_.

 

 


	9. The Sloth and The Koala: A Discussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation spanning several tumblr posts on the significance and symbolic meaning behind the sloth and koala in The New Lars.

**What are the sloth and koala supposed to symbolize in The New Lars?**

I was working on one of my metas when I realized I have no idea what the sloth and koala are supposed to represent for in Steven Universe.

Now I can’t focus because I’m scouring the internet and show for clues about the sloth and koala.  I think Steven is supposed to be the koala and Lars is supposed to be the sloth, but otherwise the reasoning eludes me.  It’s not like with Lars' scorpion shirt from Joking Victim, where the meaning seemed rather obvious.

 

**The Sloth as Symbol of Lars’ Laziness and Humiliation in The New Lars**

**[cinnabees](http://cinnabees.tumblr.com/) ** replied to your post [“I was working on one of my metas when I realized I have no idea what…”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/165756507469/i-was-working-on-one-of-my-metas-when-i-realized-i)

> I always thought it was foreshadowing something in regards to Lars and Ronaldo’s relationship being addressed later.

There might be something to the “sloth and koala” connection between Lars and Ronaldo, but if so it isn’t really fleshed out on the show itself (or on the KBCW blog even).  Besides Ronaldo has nothing to do with “The New Lars” and his favorite anime, “Koala Princess,” seems to be the extent of his connection to koalas. 

I think there are other little details connecting their character arcs together that suggest that their paths will cross again, with the possibility of a proper reconciliation, that are a bit more clear than the possible koala/sloth connection.

Also it doesn’t really explain why a _sloth_.

**Oh.**

I think I figured it out.  The sloth is a reference to, well, _sloth_.  Aside from referring to an unwillingness to work hard at anything, the term used to refer to apathy and a lack of care, not just laziness.    The character flaw focused in The New Lars is Lars’ reluctance to put effort into anything, even his relationships.

> MARTHA:  Please, Lars. We let you move into the attic, and your grades are still below average. All we're asking from you is...
> 
> DANTE & MARTHA:  A little effort! 

Sadie also points out at the start of the episode that sloths eat poop, which seems to be a kid-friendly reference to “eat shit.”  The phrase (as a verb) means “to be humiliated.”  It’s also another word for “eat dirt” which means “to humble oneself; to accept blame, guilt, or criticism without complaint.”

 

**Steven is the Koala, not Ronaldo**

**[mambocat](https://mambocat.tumblr.com/) ** replied to your post [“cinnabees replied to your post “I was working on one of my metas...”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/166442086899/cinnabees-replied-to-your-post-i-was-working-on)

> Hm. Steven was also asking them to make a choice between sloth and koala. Ronaldo(koala) got a chance to join Steven but kinda...Bloodstoned it. Lars (sloth?) got his chance - that he didn't even ask for - but he's found out a buncha juicy Gem lore that Ronaldo would no doubt pounce on! So it's almost as if the _show_ chose between sloth and koala? *shrug

_~~(oh god this gave me “kitty ronaldo pouncing on Gem shaped fruit gushers” images why?? so cute)~~ _

Is Ronaldo the koala though?  Like, I used to think so, but looking at the Koala Princess stuff and the context in The New Lars, I’m starting to think the koala isn’t Ronaldo after all and I was just making assumptions based on what other fans have theorized.   I strongly suspect now that _Steven_ is the koala, not Ronaldo.

The show’s character associated symbolism has so far shown itself to be pretty consistent.  Problem is, Ronaldo’s related symbolism appears to relate to  knowledge, enlightenment, and the pursuit thereof, whereas koalas are said to symbolize connections and memory, which is more Steven’s thing.  And Ronaldo talked about [Koala Princess meeting her mother for the first time in a dream](http://keepbeachcityweird.tumblr.com/post/104379180556/aaahhhhhhhhhhhhh-ok-so-i-just-finished-the) in the post that coincides with “Lion 3: Straight to Video.” 

As for Lars vs Ronaldo, I don’t think the show “chose” between them.  I think Ronaldo just wasn’t ready yet. He has to learn to accept the world and himself as is before he can really get involved with the main plot. He needs to recognize that he doesn’t _need_ to be in the center of a big conspiracy or really _anything_ to be special; he can just be himself.

 

**Final Note: The Sloth as Possible Foreshadowing for Reconciliation**

Oh hey, [I found the post](http://keepbeachcityweird.tumblr.com/post/124012728571/is-anyone-else-seeing-this-i-was-just-in-the) hinting at the sloth and koala relating to Lars and Ronaldo’s relationship and the possibility of them becoming friends again.

> _#i basically like any animal that hangs out in a tree_

Like a sloth, Ronaldo?


	10. Simply Ronaldo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some basic thoughts on Ronaldo. My impression of his character then and now, my favorite Ronaldo moment and relationship, and a story idea. Unpopular Opinions Ahead! (Note: originally written for a tumblr ask meme)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Gasp* What's this? A Steven Universe meta post that ISN'T about Lars in some shape or form?

  * **First impression**



_“Oh man! This guy is such a big nerd! He’s hilarious.”_ Or something to that effect.  I can’t really remember my first impression of him at all!  It’s been too long.  But I remember finding him a very interesting guy.  And also amusing.  However, like pretty much all of the cast (until Wanted forced me to give everything in the series a closer look), I only liked him in a way that was just a wee bit above neutral.  I found him entertaining and that was sort of it?  I didn’t put much thought into my thoughts and feelings about the SU cast. 

But I can _definitely_ say he **was** my favorite Beach City teen until Season 5 ( _damn_ , Lars).  Why? Because _I don’t like conspiracy theory crap_.  **At all**.  It’s one of the reasons why I hate the _Undertale_ fandom’s popular Gaster theory so intensely;  the logic behind it reminds me of conspiracy theories, especially those on the paranormal.  I have the misfortune of _living_ with people who are drawn to conspiracy theories and the like in real life, and it puts a strain on our relationship as I am a skeptic at heart.

You’d think this would mean I’d hate Ronaldo, but he is something of a good-natured parody (without the show resorting to giving him a cliche aluminum foil hat) and deconstruction of that kind of character, so I actually found him a lot of fun to watch and, gosh darn it, even  _likable_.   I used to watch his episodes a LOT during the worst of those days.

  * **Impression now**



My enjoyment of Ronaldo’s episodes and, to a lesser temporary extent, Ronaldo himself honestly took a hit after the Wanted special.  Part of it is that, for me, Lars _dying_ soon after being caught up in the Gem conflict rendered some of the humor of Ronaldo’s character really… not funny, in retrospect.   The other part is that it was sincerely really **_jarring_** to rewatch both Lars and Ronaldo’s episodes after “Lars’ Head.”   I’d rewatched the entire show, including their episodes, so many times, but it was like I was _seeing_ Ronaldo and Lars for the first time, if that makes sense.  So I didn’t know what to think of him for a while there.

It took some time, but I did eventually warm up to him again.  I’m more aware of his flaws this time around, though.  While some of his flaws are huge and have resulted in him doing some terrible things, I honestly think they make him _more_ likable and interesting as a character.  Before, he was just mildly entertaining and weirdly cathartic.  Now, I can see that he’s a complex and fascinating character that deserves some contemplation over, a character that’s been gradually developing over the course of the series, despite having very few episodes focusing on him. 

  * **Favorite moment**



DID SOMEONE ASK FOR AN UNNECESSARY SCENE BREAKDOWN?

The scene where Steven tells Ronaldo the truth about his evidence for snake people is perhaps my absolute favorite scene with Ronaldo to date.  The entire thing is fantastic, starting with Ronaldo’s hilarious, but also kinda sad in context, anime face (he’s _so excited_ to have someone who shares in his beliefs, to have someone who believes _in him_ ) and how it absolutely _shatters_ when Steven asks him if he’s sure about snake people.

This is quickly followed by a meaningful callback to “So Many Birthdays.”

> PEARL: Steven, are you telling lies?
> 
> RONALDO: Steven, are you having doubts?

This line tells us so much about Ronaldo’s beliefs about what constitutes as lies, especially when parallels are drawn to Pearl’s line asking Steven if he’s telling lies.  In both cases, the answer is yes to a certain extent.  In “So Many Birthdays,” Steven was telling a joke by presenting a fictional scenario, and here Steven knows Ronaldo is wrong about there being snake people.  This little highlight is quickly followed up by his impassioned speech about what “truth” is.

> STEVEN: Maybe the truth just isn’t what you thought it was. 
> 
> RONALDO: Sure it is! Don’t get hung up on these minor facts. Truth is about more than that, truth is a feeling in your gut that you know is true! Truth is searching for anything that proves you’re right no matter how small, and holding on to that, no matter what. 
> 
> STEVEN: That kinda sounds like the opposite of truth. 

The expressions used throughout the scene are fantastic, but the gesture Ronaldo makes when talking about holding on to “truth” is especially worth noting for how loving and tender it looks, showing that it’s not just his beliefs that are incredibly important to him, but his _dedication_ to those beliefs.

And then the whole scene gets capped off with:

> RONALDO: I’m really not at the center of anything… I’m nothing.

And then the (Amethyst) Steven cast – which before its unveiling represented his **_last hope_  **throughout the scene – crumbles away in his hand as he leaves dragging it behind him, and he ignores it completely as it falls apart behind him, letting it slip from his fingers uncaringly.

The whole scene is a fantastic first glimpse into _why,_ and to what degree, Ronaldo is so obsessed with the paranormal and conspiracy theories.  It’s also the audience’s first warning that he’s so  _desperately_ obsessed that he will ultimately prove to be a danger to both himself and others.

((This defining character trait of his is also one of the ways Ronaldo is a foil to the hopeless Lars. Presumably, Ronaldo’s character arc will involve him learning the art of skepticism and how some doubt and skepticism is a _good_ thing while Lars continues his own growth into a more optimistic person))

  * **Idea for a story**



AU where Ronaldo was erased from existence after getting too close to the truth and Peedee is the only one who remembers him and has to find a way to bring him back. Meanwhile Ronaldo gains power from beyond the void to allow himself to re-enter reality in brief little ways, like a ghost. 

((It’s a plot bunny I got after reading a certain hate post directed at Ronaldo. It’s also inspired by that one Undertale fan theory I really hate.  What else was I supposed to think when someone says something like “Imagine _Steven Universe_ except Ronaldo doesn’t exist and never did…”?))

  * **Unpopular opinion**



In case you haven’t noticed, this _entire post_ is an unpopular opinion,  but here’s another one:  I actually found “Rocknaldo” to be a decent episode.  Not the best, but not terrible either.  It went in a logical direction, everyone’s actions and choices made sense, I felt like the episode had a fantastic lesson about allies (specifically, _false_ allies who make it all about themselves and implement gate-keeping tactics) ~~and the importance of sleep and remembering that one is a human being~~ , and we see Ronaldo’s inability to cope with reality endanger him instead of someone else, which I feel was a much needed reminder that Ronaldo is _not_ trying to be malicious when his obsession over what he perceives as “truth” endangers or hurts people; he suffers from a mental illness.

  * **Favorite relationship**



Peedee&Ronaldo.  Their brotherly dynamic is enjoyable and interesting.  I wish their relationship got a bit more attention on the show, especially since it seems like both boys are desperate to feel important and special, whether it be in their father’s eyes or in their own eyes.  Another thing I want to see explored more is that Peedee acts like both Ronaldo’s minder _and_ his enabler, most notably in “Keep Beach City Weird,” which is _really_ not healthy but adds both another dimension to their fraternal relationship and a flaw to potentially overcome, which I’d like because it would make them and their relationship as brothers feel more real.

  * **Favorite headcanon**



Remember the soaked letter Ronaldo received after Love Letters?  I like to think that the letter was from Jane and that’s how they first got in contact with each other. 


	11. Lars of the Stars Is Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is nothing to support the theory that Lars of the Stars is a dream sequence, and here's why.

_**Note:** Sorry, this meta isn’t as tidy as some of my others, but the show will be back very soon and I should’ve finished this **months** ago. So this is going to be a bit rough._

* * *

Given how [dreams and inner thoughts have been depicted thus far on _Steven Universe_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27660465), it surprised me to see that there is a theory that nothing we viewers are shown in the SDCC promo clip is real. Not just among the small smattering of remaining diehard Lars haters who are still convinced that Lars is “a worthless mean-spirited cowardly bastard who only cares about himself” ( ~~Wanted has been out for ** _six months_** now~~ ), but even among fans who do like Lars, it’s been a fairly common theory.

Here’s the thing, if the promo is a dream or fantasy created by Steven, then it is one that follows the logic of the show’s reality to an unprecedented and unrealistic degree.  Let’s break down the promo and the reasons people have given for suspecting that the whole thing is a dream or fantasy that Steven made up, like the part where Lars apparently became a very competent and confident space pirate captain while Steven was away.

_(yeah... this is definitely one of most unexpected wham shots on the show.... even if the reveal happened so long ago that TV Tropes doesn't even count it)_

 

## But Why Pirates?

But first we need to go back to Lars’ Head, the reason being that the ending sets up Lars’ space pirate arc with this exchange between Lars and the Off Colors:

> FLUORITE: We won't [use you to go to Earth]. Not if it means leaving you behind.
> 
> LARS: _(alarmed; confused)_ What?! I'm trying to perform a beautiful act over here.
> 
> FLUORITE: We know this planet. We've been hiding in these tunnels for eons. You'll need us to help you get around. Besides, us off colors stick together.
> 
> RUTILE: We'll get to Earth another way. **We'll find an alternate route.**

It was established back in Season 1 that there are no working Warp Pads connecting Earth to any of the Gem controlled planets. 

> STEVEN: Where do all these Warp Pads go, anyway?
> 
> PEARL: Well, Steven, these Warp Pads were used to travel off-planet. They were our connection to the Gem Homeworld and to Gem controlled planets all over the universe.
> 
> STEVEN: You mean we could go anywhere we want in outer space?
> 
> AMETHYST: Yeah... we _could_ do that if they weren't all busted.
> 
> PEARL: It's true. The Galaxy Warps have all been inactive for thousands of years.
> 
> STEVEN: Can't we fix them?
> 
> PEARL:  It's fine. *chuckles* I'll always have my memories of other worlds. But now I'm here. On Earth. Forever. 

The Homeworld Warp Pad _was_ briefly fixed by Peridot, but it was re-demolished by Garnet, after which it stayed broken despite Steven’s attempt to fix it later.

According to the Off Colors, most gems believe Earth was destroyed by the Diamonds, so chances are that the coordinates to Earth are given out on a need-to-know basis.  The Off Colors are not likely to find a ship that’s already heading to Earth to stowaway on.

It’s also possible that not every ship is capable of traveling to Earth quickly.  Gems are nigh immortal, so slow space travel wouldn’t bother them.  It’s possible that only the elite and those directly following the Diamonds’ orders are given ships capable of such speeds.

There is only one way the Off Colors can go to Earth without leaving Lars behind: getting the coordinates to Earth and stealing an elite’s ship capable of reaching Earth under eighty years.  It won’t be a quick or easy route home. They’re in a completely different galaxy from Earth and they’re fugitives with an automatic death sentence on their heads just for existing.  It’ll take some careful planning, work, and timing to pull off their escape from Homeworld.  Not to mention complete trust and understanding of each other.

Of course, there were also multiple jokes about him growing up to become a thief in the later seasons.  Those jokes honestly don’t really work _without_ the space pirate Lars pay off because we never actually see him steal anything at any point prior to this.

So now that we have “The Why” of Lars’ space pirate arc, let’s consider the rest of the promo and why I am skeptical of the dream theory.

 

## The Character Heights

People have claimed that Connie is taller in this episode... and therefore this entire sequence is a dream.  There’s just three problems with this.  

First, it’s common knowledge that the storyboard artists all have their own ideas on how tall the characters are.  Second, character heights remain the same in dreams as in reality unless there is a _huge_ change in height (Pearl being big enough to eat Steven, for example).  Lastly, Connie is usually taller than Steven by around that amount.  Even as far back as Bubble Buddies.  

Steven himself, however, may have shrunk a little, as he often does after Season 2.  Most infamously in “Restaurant Wars,” which I believe is the smallest he’s ever been depicted where shapeshifting wasn’t involved.

( _Yikes_ )

His body _does_ look smaller and thinner during the promo, though thankfully not to the point where he looks like a squeaky toy.

Connie’s height seems pretty normal later in the promo when she and Steven stand together (though do note that she’s standing a wee bit in front of him). 

The only thing that’s really new is that Connie appears to have bangs, though I’m pretty sure it’s just her hairstyle as some are designed to give the impression of bangs, but I digress.

 

## Lion Is A Cat

Another thing people bring up when arguing that the promo is a dream: Lion getting up only to roll over with his tummy up.

Let’s get one thing straight: **cats _do_ this.  **My cat does it all the time.  This is just another instance of Lion being depicted as acting like a house cat for humor and cuteness.  Like when house cats typically roll over when they’re all comfy, it doesn’t last long at all before Lion flops over on his side and resumes sleeping.  Like a cat.  He’s just getting comfortable.

 

## Transition Where?

The temple and characters all look completely normal, as does the dimension linking Lion to Lars.

So when are we supposed to think the dream/fantasy begins?  In all other dream sequences and imaginary spots, there’s an in-story explanation for them explaining how they got there.  There isn’t one I can see here.

Some fans have theorized that Steven and Connie somehow enter Lars’ mind when they exit his head instead of... exiting his head (thus making Lars of the Stars his dream instead of Steven’s), but this doesn’t make any sense.  The show has been pretty straight forward about how the portal between Lion and Lars works, allowing Steven and whoever he’s touching to travel from one place to another easily, no matter what the distance.

( _Disclaimer: these shots are not from the same episode, obviously_ )

There is no believable reason for this to change, let alone so abruptly.  It actually hurts my brain to think of the logistics of such a turn of events.  

It would be horrifying, really.  Imagine every time Steven uses Lion’s portal, he doesn’t know if he’s going to pop out on the other side or end up in an extremely elaborate and realistic dreamworld because he accidentally used their portal while they were sleeping.

 

## The Unexpected

Connie talks excitedly about having an adventure in space, which I can imagine working as a set up for some space fantasy, but Steven does two things that throws a bit of a wrench in the whole “Steven imagined the whole thing” idea:

First, he packs a stuffed bear for Lars “to hug if he gets scared,” which is an understandable decision coming from Steven, since Lars previously admitted to being scared all the time and turned to Steven for comfort and reassurance throughout Wanted, both before and after his death.

_(Lars runs and hides behind Steven after being scared by Fluorite in Off Colors)_

_(Steven does his best to put Lars’ fears that he’s a zombie now to rest)_

Secondly, Steven says this: 

 

> _“I’m not so sure this is going to be an adventure. Last time I saw Lars, he was [unclear] up in a dark cave with some other Homeworld fugitives.”_

Later, he expresses confusion when he finds Lars on a ship in a cool uniform and defying Emerald, a gem neither Steven nor the viewers have seen before.

>  STEVEN: Lars?

_*a little later*_ **  
**

> STEVEN: *very confused* What is... going on...?

After Padparadscha refers to Lars as “Captain,” both Steven and Connie react with surprise and excitement.

Neither Steven’s confusion nor delighted surprise goes with what we’ve seen from Steven when he’s dreaming. He’d previously been shown to just go with the flow.  If it were his dream (or anyone’s dream), you’d think that he wouldn’t think anything of Lars being a space captain.

 

## Captain Confidence & Courage

Another reason why people theorize that it’s a dream/fantasy is Lars’ apparent confidence and courage.  This is actually a really poor argument.  This wouldn’t even be the first time Lars has taken charge, let alone the first time he’s presented a more confident side to him.

Just compare his expressions from the Horror Club flashback and the SDCC promo.

Why am I pointing this moment from the previous seasons out in particular?  Because of how Lars’reacted to being caught carving his name on the wall mere seconds before.

The only other person present is Ronaldo, yet Lars looks completely _freaked_ here, like he just realized he acted without thinking and now his mind is racing that he did something bad, he screwed up, and now Ronaldo is going to hate him forever.  He plays it up like him being cool once he realizes (after staring wildly for a bit) Ronnie _isn’t_ mad at him, but it’s kind of obvious he is really scared and anxious in that instant.

There’s other instances of Lars acting all cocky or having a confidence boost of some kind (Lars and the Cool Kids having examples of both) despite also clearly struggling with anxiety, but I think the Horror Club flashback is the best example of Lars switching rapidly between ANXIETY and Cool Dude ( ~~Dave Strider, much?~~ ).

Confidence boost or no confidence boost, it’s still basic knowledge that Lars suffers from an anxiety disorder.  That‘s not something that one just gets over through the power of love and friendship (though, yes, those things can help).  This, too, has been presented as evidence that the promo is a dream.

Except that he _doesn’t_ come across as completely calm and self-assured during the promo.  What we see in the Horror Club flashback, we see in the promo, too. If anything, he seems even _more_ on edge than he was in “Lars’ Head.”  Look at his face when Steven and Connie tumble out of his head.

Does this look like the face of a chill confident badass?  No. He looks stressed and kinda freaked out.  He looks like, well, Lars.  Like the same sad anxious boy Steven left behind on Homeworld.

Though perhaps his reaction at having people suddenly fall out of his head has less to do with his current dire situation and more to do with the fact that he previously sent Steven to Earth to _protect_ him and yet here he is, while Lars and the Off Colors are dealing with a dangerous situation.  I’m just saying, Lars doesn’t seem all that thrilled to see Steven.  His face says, “Oh, crap.”

Honestly, the situation here is just the same as what we saw during Lars’ fight in _Off Colors_ , where Lars was clearly scared beyond belief, but didn’t let his fear stop him from doing what he could to protect Steven and the Gems

That being said **, it’s not that I think his confidence and self-assurance is _all_ an act. **I just don’t believe all of it is necessarily real for the reason stated above.

As I said in my ramble/analysis/rant regarding [Lars’ mentality toward heroism](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/27106473), it was more or or less stated and shown in Wanted that the poor kid subconsciously rates his own worth as a person based on heroic principles.  Which, it turns out, seems to have been hinted as far back as _Season 1A_ , before even “Lars and the Cool Kids,” but let’s not get sidetracked here.  

This way of thinking might sound really good, noble and all, but it’s really not.  It’s actually _extremely toxic_ , especially when compounded with a history of mental illness and an unfortunate belief that someone who is always scared can’t hope to be capable of much of anything, let alone help anyone else.  Lars has always had ridiculously high standards for himself that he can’t realistically hope to reach; he’s a bit of a perfectionist. Living with such a mentality would be cruel enough, but Lars has also struggled with feelings of loneliness and not belonging.  Much of his character arc prior to Wanted focused on him trying desperately to fit in with mixed results.

Wanted was a game-changer.  He learned that he can be brave and help others in spite of his fear, it doesn’t have to define him.  The Off Colors accepted him as one of their own wholeheartedly, even giving up their easy ticket to Earth and safety so he wouldn’t be alone.  That’s two roots of his extremely low self-esteem taken out in one blow.  So of course he’d be a lot more confident and self-assured now, and genuinely so.

Though it probably helps that he’s apparently won more than a few victories against Homeworld on his quest to get himself and the Off Colors to Earth.

> EMERALD: It was a minor inconvenience when you stole my personal shuttle and crashed it on Ocelon-9.  It was an insult when you impersonated imperial officers during a cosmic jubilee. But to steal my _Sun Incinerator_ is unacceptable!
> 
> CAPTAIN LARS: If this ship means so much to you, maybe you shouldn’t have left it unguarded on Clavia-7.
> 
> EMERALD: There were sixty-seven elite Citrines guarding it!!
> 
> CAPTAIN LARS: Oh, I didn’t see them. Oh, wait. I did. They didn’t see us!

If I were in his boots, I’d probably be a smug little shit, too.

Homeworld gems have always been difficult opponents for the Crystal Gems.  Aquamarine, the last Homeworld gem they faced, completely _annihilated_ them in battle without breaking a sweat, despite all their efforts.

One rogue donut shop worker ~~and eleven unarmed Gem misfits armed with little more than their intellect and the trust and love shared between them~~?   _Now_ they’re sweating.

 

## Sleepy Head?

A second before Steven and Connie arrive, we see Captain Lars slumped over.  This has been theorized to be Lars sleeping at an inopportune time, thus evidence that this is a dream and Steven has somehow traversed with Connie into Lars’ mind when he exits Lars’ hair.  

Even though, you know, Steven has popped out of Lion’s mane while Lion slept just fine, so... yeah, I really don’t know what the logic here is.  This is perhaps the weakest argument for the dream theory.

My personal guess?  They didn’t so much “sneak past” the elite Citrine Quartz guards as “use the same portal creation powers that Lion has.”  That would explain why the Off Colors were able to get past so many Gems without being spotted despite one of them being a giant caterpillar.  And why Lars seems out of it here.

Lion can use those powers and carry several Gems across large distances with relative ease, but he’s roughly two hundred years old and _used_ to his abilities.  Lars, however, is new to his powers.  He wasn’t magic at all a little while ago.  It’s likely that using his active abilities to any extent will be taxing, much like what we see with Steven’s active powers, especially in Seasons 1 and 2.

> STEVEN: Hey guys, over here! 
> 
> (The Gems retreat under Steven's shield, while Garnet manages to spot a way out of the room.) 
> 
> GARNET: This way! 
> 
> (The group heads towards the hallway, the shield protecting them from the lasers, which bounce off harmlessly. The group manages to make it to safety, only for Steven's shield to disappear and for Steven to collapse in exhaustion.) 
> 
> AMETHYST:  You're on fire, Steven!
> 
> STEVEN: *sighs* That's three shields in one day! Not too sha[bby]—

It’s worth remembering that, while Lion has had his powers for centuries, he still gets tired if he moves a handful of gems over a tremendous distance (like, to the moon).  Lars, who just got his powers, would’ve had to transport/carry _eleven gems (six in one huge fusion)_ across an (almost certainly large) area patrolled by of sixty-seven large Citrine Quartz Guards and into a parked and unmanned alien space ship.  

But that’s just one theory as to how they weren’t spotted and why he’d be all slumped over before Steven and Connie arrive.

 

## Interior Decorating

Some people have argued that the inside of the _Sun Incinerator_ is just the same as the inside of Peridot’s ship or Aquamarine’s ship, therefore it’s a dream, but a quick look at the interior of either quickly shows this isn’t true.

It is _completely_ different from Peridot’s ship, which has yellow “veins” throughout and triangles all over the walls.

Tthe inside is vaguely reminiscent of Aquamarine’s ship and fittingly so, since emeralds and aquamarines are both beryls ( _ **as are morganites**_ , which I theorize Lars disguised himself as being, since they are pastel pink and Rhodonite used to belong to one), but only to a certain extent.

Aquamarine’s ship is dark, blue and green.  It features a pentagonal main viewing screen and only one seat for crew.  The side screens are wide with the inner two being right triangles and the outer two being diamonds.  The wall is designed with kite quadrilaterals overlapped by large triangles.  The small captain’s chair floats above.

The Sun Incinerator is brightly lit, green and yellow. The main viewing screen is rectangular like Peridot’s screen from Marble Madness and the side screens are narrow acute triangles.  There are seats for several crew members.  The wall is covered in diamonds with normal proportions overlapped by narrow triangles.  The captain’s chair is regular-sized and set on the ground.

The inside of the ship is also similar to that of the equally well-lit Ruby ship, but less so than Aquamarine’s ship.

The Ruby ship has viewports (windows) on the walls where the beryl ships have none, but have no visible stairs to the engine room.  The viewports and what is presumably the main viewing screen are all hexagonal.  The stars can’t be seen through the ceiling like in the beryl ships.

Overall, the _Sun Incinerator_ looks, for the most part, unique from the ships previously seen, and what similarities are there make perfect world-building sense.

 

## Wasted Gems

Another issue I have with the dream theory is that it would be such a waste of Jinkx Monsoon’s talents to limit them to a nonexistent Gem who only appears in a dream.  Especially since a lot of fans, myself included, are excited for the show to feature a nonbinary voice actor.

It also seems weird that the show would introduce two new types of Gem, Emerald and Citrine, in a dream and not have them be real.

 

## Dogfight

It would be bad enough if it turned out to be a dream after we got a two minute long promo for it at SDCC, but we also see hints of it in the trailer shown in the Season 5 trailer shown, in the form of a dogfight.

Though in a completely different shape, the attacking ship in the trailer shares the same colors and exterior viewport design as the _Sun Incinerator_.  It’s almost certainly owned by Emerald.

There’s also the musical cue in the trailer.  What plays over much of the later half of the trailer, which includes this scene, is a track that has been strongly indicated to be the full version of Lars’ theme as it has so far only played for him, most notably in “I Am My Mom” and in Wanted, in separate situations both in and out of battle.

It’s like if “Lapis Lazuli” played in a trailer for Season 3.  Even if she was absent from the trailer, the audio would still act as solid foreshadowing for Malachite’s return, poofing, and the return of Lapis (and, by association, Jasper).  Though Lars himself is absent from the trailer, the music can still be interpreted as foreshadowing for his return as a spacefarer.

 

## Lars of the Stars VS. Bloodstone

Many fans are hesitant to trust the promotional material for Lars of the Stars due to the Bloodstone incident.  For those not in the know, CN posted this image for Rocknaldo:

The gem in the image is a bloodstone, which turns out to be Ronaldo’s Gemsona in Rocknaldo.  Many fans were fooled into thinking they were going to see a new gem, since the promo implied it would be a new character, not one of the most hated characters on the show (a distinction Lars shared with him at the time).  You can imagine how that went down in the fandom.

However, this is the _only_ Bloodstone promo I can think of.  Lars of the Stars, in complete contrast, has two clips (one official and one leaked), a promotional image, and arguably the trailer going for it.  The trailer even shows the same ship we see Stevonnie piloting on the promo image for “Lars of the Stars.”

  


It seems very much like CN was trying hard to get across at the comic-con that “Lars of the Stars” is a real thing that really happens on the show.

However, there is still the possibility of a slight mislead.  The ship is shown to crash on what looks like an alien planet, but I can’t think of a reason why the Off Colors would leave the _Sun Incinerator_  right after successfully stealing it as it is, in Lars’ own words, Emerald’s “fastest ship.”  Or why Steven and Connie would part ways with Lars, their only means of returning to Earth, and the Off Colors.  Especially since, you know, it _is_ called “Lars of the Stars” not “Steven and Connie Visit An Old Friend Then Go Off And Get Stranded On A Planet.”

We know the Off Color pirates crashed Emerald’s personal shuttle on a planet, so it’s possible that Lars or one of the Gems is telling Steven and Connie about their past adventures.

 

## The Uniform

What seems to confuse most fans (outside of LARS OF THE STARS: REANIMATED OFF COLOR SPACE PIRATE [CAPTAIN]) in the promo is Lars’ new outfit.

The reason why many fans are confused by this is because Gems can generate their own clothes (made of “hard light”) and have no need for organic materials, which most clothes worn by humans are comprised of.

The confusion seems to be based on assumptions that the uniform is made of organic materials.  It could very well be made out of “hard light” like Gem clothes and bodies.  There are two ways this could be possible.  

It could’ve been spawned from perhaps a trinket on his person that he stole as I have a theory that wearing clothes that aren’t self-generated is something of a luxury in Homeworld, given how Peridot’s reaction to wearing Steven’s clothes parallels her reaction to sitting on the elite chair on the moon.  

Another possibility is that generating his own clothes is one of Lars’ new gem-like abilities that Lion wouldn’t have used because he’s a lion. This seems the most likely, as his ensemble lacks a diamond.


	12. The Big Donut's Living Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadie is tired and struggling with her job because she’s depressed and beside herself with grief because Lars is gone. Gone forever and never coming back as far as she knows.

The saddest thing in Sadie Killer is that Sadie _isn’t_ worn down because she’s pretty much the only person working at the Big Donut.She admits straightway that she’s used to doing Lars’ work anyway, but she’s also used to at least having him there to talk to _._ It’s his _absence itself_ that’s wearing her down.  

Sadie is tired and struggling with her job because **she’s depressed and beside herself with _grief_ because Lars is _gone_**. Gone forever and never coming back as far as she knows.

She sings she “ _really oughtta be in mourning"_ but can’t because of her job. She doesn’t have the time she needs to even begin to properly process her grief after losing Lars. The job forces her to spend her days where she’s constantly reminded of him and the hole he left in the world, in her, without giving her any time to even try to cope. 

She’s so sad and angry and tired and she feels like she’s losing her mind working all his shifts (because Lars should _be_ there but _he’s not and he never will be again_ ), and she can’t do _anything_ about it.

Working there, alone, eats away at her, leaving her with neither the energy nor motivation needed to put anywhere near the same amount of effort that she used to in ~~their~~ her dead-end job.  She doesn’t see any point in staying there at all, because the only thing she liked about her job was Lars, and _she lost him_.

So she quits.  She quits so she can be free to live, enjoy life, and mourn. Life’s too short to waste it on an awful dead-end job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sadly didn't think of this before I'd already written and posted this meta on tumblr, but the song she sings is "WE are the working dead," with the context of the song implying "we" refers to her and Lars. Then when she takes a dramatic, horror movie styled bite out of the jelly donut at the end, her silhouette has been noted to have a striking resemblance to Lars. He may be gone, but he's still a part of her.


	13. Reanimated With A Plan: A Quick Ramble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It sadly really is no wonder that so many fans came away with the impression that Lars is a better rebel leader than Rose Quartz.

Lars’ special power is apparently the ability to make a fucking **plan**.  This is what I’m getting from the SDCC promo. 

It sadly really is no wonder that so many fans came away with the impression that Lars is a better rebel leader than Rose Quartz.  Rose sucked at making plans to the point where it has been explicitly stated on the show itself thatthe only reason the Crystal Gems weren’t all wiped out millennia ago is because of sheer luck, like Ruby defying fate to save Sapphire from being poofed.  In fact, most of the problems in the show would’ve been avoided if Rose had an actual plan besides “I WANT TO DO THIS SHIT!”

We don’t even know what her plan in "The Answer" was, only that it would’ve resulted in abject failure, capture and death, if not for Garnet’s forming (which allowed them to retreat having done... nothing, except poof a few gems).  

In contrast, everything the Off Colors and Captain Lars were said to have done during the promo actually makes sense.  It’s easy to figure out why (and possibly how) they’re doing all those things. 

Perhaps Lars has been considering any possible negative outcomes and planning accordingly.  It’s almost like he is weaponizing those “what if” worst case scenarios that race through his head (and apparently the head of Rhodonite, who is even referred to as "Head of Strategic Operations") bycombining them with his newfound resolve.

Either way, it seems he is well on his way to becoming an excellent rebel leader.


	14. Lars as a Messianic Archetype in Season 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looks like this is another thing Steven and Lars have in common now... I have nothing but mixed feelings about this.

We are all aware that Steven, who Lars acts as a foil to, is very much a Messianic Archetype.  I’m just saying, because it looks like that might be something Lars has in common with him now…?  Consider Lars’ arc in Season 5 thus far.

  * was never well-received in his own town
  * is (accidentally) betrayed to Homeworld by Steven when he lists him as one of his friends to Peridot
  * goes from Earth (treated as Paradise in Wanted) to another world where it is implied by Topaz that he will be executed alongside Steven after the trial instead of being taken to the human zoo.
  * is (at the time of Wanted) completely innocent of any crime (sin) against Homeworld
  * taken to a trial as evidence and ridiculed by the Zircon prosecutor ( _”As we can see from this specimen, humans are loud, absolutely hideous creatures that serve no purpose whatsoever. What sort of Gem would turn on her own kind for this?”_ )
  * associates himself with the undesirables of Homeworld
  * the off-colors total twelve when Steven is counted, comparable to the twelve apostles
  * is overwhelmed with emotion regarding approaching doom in a “garden” (is overtaken by fear and suffers a panic attack in the Kindergarten).
  * is spared from being “judged, condemned, and executed” by the Robonoids because he has no gem, since he’s human and not of their world (“without blemish”)
  * his lack of a gem allows him to save those “damned” by Homeworld
  * suffers a brutal agonizing death for their sake
  * slams into the wall in a crucified hero pose (that wouldn't actually be physically possible) before falling to his death
  * is raised from the dead.
  * has at least one scar remaining from his brutal death after he is resurrected
  * is empowered and drastically transformed by his resurrection (presenting the possibility that those on Beach City might not recognize him when they first see him)
  * is apparently now leading the remaining eleven off-colors (after Steven returned to Earth) out of Homeworld, which can basically be described as a kind of hell for them and to Earth (something he is only capable of doing  _because_ he died and was resurrected)
  * is associated with the five-petaled rose, which in real life is a religious symbol for the crucifixion, resurrection, and eternal life. (Of course, the five-petaled rose is also connected to him being a parallel to Rose, who is associated with five-point stars)
  * is quite possibly immortal after his revival, given that he’s infused with a large quantity of gem magic and lacks a gemstone (that actual gems require _in order_ to be capable of dying at all), associated with ‘immortality’ symbolism every bit as he is with death/rebirth themes, and the crucified/resurrected Messiah parallels.
  * if he has Lion’s power of portals, then he also has the post-resurrection Messianic power to “appear and disappear at will.”
  * can  _probably_ walk on water now. 



Lastly, while his actual resurrection took place immediately after his death, Lars is still mourned in Beach City as he is still, from their perspective, as good as dead.  His return from space would be like a symbolic resurrection. 

Considering everything presented here, perhaps he and the off colors will arrive on Earth three months after I Am My Mom.  This is just speculation, of course, running on the assumptions that the parallels here aren’t some really bizarre coincidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is perhaps the most awkward and uncomfortable meta I've ever written. I know personality doesn't actually play into the Messianic Archetype trope, but it's just really weird to think of Lars, of all people, as being a Jesus parallel now, even though it makes sense. They wouldn't pull the whole "dies to save others and is resurrected" thing with Steven, since the show is from his perspective and he's still very child-like and innocent). Lars is Steven's older and more worldly foil, so having him take on that role instead of Steven seems logical enough.


	15. The Singer & The Rebel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts on the whole "Lars and Sadie are a parallel to Rose Quartz and Greg" thing that's been going around: There is definitely a Rose/Greg parallel going on with Lars and Sadie. After Sadie Killer, there’s no denying it. And it’s been going on for much longer than I think people realize.

( **Excellent question!** But I’m going to have to assume you’ve seen **the SDCC promo** , because otherwise it will be hard to discuss this topic in detail.  Just so you know, this will contain SPOILERS for unreleased Lars episodes.)

There is _definitely_ a Rose/Greg parallel going on with Lars and Sadie.  At this point, there’s no denying it. And it’s been going on for much longer than I think people realize.

Before Sadie Killer aired on the CN app, I had reached the conclusion that Lars was _always_ meant to be Rose Quartz’s teen parallel while Sadie shifted from a Pearl parallel to a Greg parallel as her character and relationship with Lars developed, so seeing more solid evidence for this and seeing fans talk about it is very exciting. 

The first thing you need to know is that **Lars and Sadie’s personal story progressions flow _backwards_ from their respective analogous character.**

  * Lars goes from feeling dead and paralleling Rose’s _ghost/memory_ , to sacrificing himself so Steven can live and be on Earth, to becoming a lively pink quasi-immortal rebel against Homeworld.
  * Sadie goes from working at a menial labor job to becoming a singer-songwriter with a focus on horror and the undead, which is connected to her reanimated love interest (much like how Greg’s music was space-themed and he had a thing for human/alien romances before meeting Rose).



There is a fairly common idea that Lars isn’t just Steven’s foil, but intended to _parallel_ Steven, at least in regards to the Cool Kids’ Crystal Gems.  There are two glaring problems with this idea.

Lars fits in poorly with Cool Kids and they only seem to tolerate him at best. They are written and designed to parallel the Crystal Gems who all loved and accepted Steven long before Gem Glow despite his frequent fears of rejection, so why would Steven’s teen parallel never quite succeed in being accepted into their group?

It’s strange that Steven would even _need_ a teen parallel to go with the CG parallels of the Cool Kids as he’s already a (half)-human teenager who happens to be liked and accepted by them.  He’s just younger than he looks.  It would go against the underlying theme of Steven struggling between his humanity and being also a gem by undermining, if not symbolically _removing_ , his humanity through subtext.  **Lars being Steven’s parallel would be redundant and counterproductive to the narrative**.  

Despite this, it’s strongly implied that Lars is supposed to parallel a Crystal Gem.   His character arc heavily involves the Cool Kids up until Wanted and he has an association with flowers (the rose moss) and the color pink.  He is clearly meant to be Rose Quartz-themed like Steven.  In other words, he’s _Rose’s_ parallel.

So, if Lars is supposed to be Rose’s parallel, shouldn’t the Cool Kids look up to Lars and follow him as their leader then?  Well, no.   **The Cool Kids parallel the Crystal Gems from _after_ Rose’s death, remember?**

In other words, Lars’ parallel Crystal Gem was  ** _dead all along._**

Of course the Cool Kids find Lars hard to be around at times.  Of _course_ they aren’t any closer to him after two years.   **The living and the dead don’t mix.**  As much as Lars wants to be in with the Cool Kids, all he can really manage to do is [haunt](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/haunt) them like a desperate fanboy.  Or, you know, a ghost.

There’s the old saying “ _don’t speak ill of the dead._ ”  Remembering the dead is part of the grieving process. The urge to push forth the best qualities, whether real or imagined, of the deceased thus tends to be strong in society, especially for their friends.  The memory of someone who’s dead can sometimes feel like them being there, but also _not_ there (if that makes sense).

Rose kept many secrets from her friends, presenting herself as someone far better than who she truly was, thus leaving people unsure how to feel about her (especially Steven) as more of her dark secrets are uncovered. Lars is always either wearing a mask around other people or just straight-up absent.  The Cool Kids have shown that they do like him to some extent and would like to know him better, but the true Lars is _never_ to be seen around them.  Instead, he bends over backwards trying to present himself as the person he thinks they want him to be, but never quite succeeds.

Lars’ mental state adds to this idea of him paralleling the dead as he is shown throughout the show to suffer from anxiety and depression, both which can lead to the feeling of not being truly alive, of being dead or a zombie, something Lars has been suggested to feel like before dying and being resurrected in Off Colors.

The nature of his parallel with Rose changes in Season 5.  Not with Lars of the Stars, but rather the moment in Lars’ Head where he makes a heroic sacrifice to return Steven to the world, much like Rose did to bring him into the world the first time.

_In both cases, Steven has to go through their body_.  He has to leave Rose’s body through childbirth to exist.  Then, in Season 5, he has to enter the gateway in Lars’ head in order to return to Earth.

Rose and Lars are thus both lost to Beach City and mourned by their loved ones.  However, unlike Rose, Lars _will_ come back, but for now he’s missed as though dead as no one can bring him home to Earth.

After this, the parallels between Lars and Rose start becoming more obvious, becoming outright text due to this moment representing the point where Lars shifts from mirroring Rose’s ghost/memory to paralleling Rose when she was _alive_.

## Rose & Lars Parallels: Lars and the Cool Kids / An Indirect Kiss

Lars being a parallel for the dead Rose is perhaps most evident in the episodes Lars and the Cool Kids and An Indirect Kiss.

The [two episodes have been noted to heavily parallel each other](https://johndeaky.tumblr.com/post/162550331060/parallels-between-lars-and-the-cool-kids-and-an) with one kicking off Lars’ personal arc and the other first introducing Steven’s healing powers and the concept of healing tears, which would later be a game-changer for Lars’ arc.  Though Lars doesn’t appear in An Indirect Kiss, the episode thus relates heavily to him and his own arc.

In each episode, we’re introduced to something Rose once cared for but has since been abandoned after her death.  In LatCK, there is the moss which is openly compared to Lars and would continue to be associated with him in later appearances.  In AIK, there is Rose’s Fountain, which is overrun with aggressive brambles.  **Both the moss and Rose’s Fountain need outside help in order for the day to be saved and bloom in the end**.  

Both the moss and Rose’s Fountain can thus be argued to parallel Lars.  Especially since both the name Laramie and Rose’s fountain are connected as they both relate to “Tears of Love.”

> GARNET:Steven, your mother had healing tears that flowed from her gem. She felt real love for those around her. She felt real sorrow when they were hurt. You have the Rose Quartz gem now. I know that power is in you, too.

In LatCK, Lars insulting Rose to Steven’s face acts as the trigger for Steven becoming emotional over how he never got to know his mom, while the _statue of Rose_ does in AIK.

_**Lars And The Cool Kids** _

_**An Indirect Kiss**_

> STEVEN: I don’t understand anything! Why is everyone acting so strange? Why can’t I– ( _Steven looks at the statue of his mother_ ) Why can’t I cry?! *echoing* Why can’t I cry? 
> 
> STEVEN: It’s just… I mean, I don’t know how to feel about you, but everyone else does. I wish I could have met you then this place would make me sad, and I could cry healing tears, like you. 

It’s easy to assume that Amethyst is meant to parallel Lars in AIK, since she and Steven are running from aggressive plants while time is running out while Garnet and Pearl are away, but consider that Amethyst _isn’t_ meant to parallel Lars, but the Cool Kids.  In the episode, Amethyst’s gem is cracked and steadily growing worse.  As with the Cool Kids being engulfed by the moss, this is why time is running out.

In the episode, Steven is trying to heal Amethyst by crying on her gem.  After failing throughout the episode, he finally does so, but to no avail.  All his attempts are a failure.  Then Rose’s Fountain starts flowing again and the brambles blossom into roses that float away, leaving the two Crystal Gems safe and Amethyst healed while music similar to the ending of LatCK plays. 

In LatCK, Lars is the only person in the situation who _isn’t_ initially affected by the moss.  Steven needs Lars to drive the engulfed Cool Kids to the top of Rose’s hill, which they do as a joint effort.  This fails when Steven and Lars get engulfed in the moss before reaching it, but then the sun comes out and the moss blooms, allowing the five kids to emerge from the moss.  It’s worth mentioning that Rose’s gem has been associated with driving on the show.  It’s been treated like Stevonnie’s unique ability by the crewniverse in the comics and official art, and Kevin alludes to their superior driving skills in Kevin Party.  In other words, in this situation, Lars arguably parallels Steven’s _gem_  (which is all that's left of Rose).

 

## Greg & Sadie Parallels: A Story For Steven / Sadie’s Song

Interestingly Sadie was originally more of a _Pearl_ parallel, presumably to highlight the toxicity of her relationship with Lars at the time.  Sadie neglected herself in her attempts to “fix” Lars’ life and was willing to betray his trust and hurt him to do so.  This can be somewhat compared to how Pearl took great pride in her own destruction for Rose’s cause during the days of the rebellion.  Both Pearl and Sadie disregarded the feelings of the person they were “helping.” Neither Rose nor Lars were happy with any of this.

> SADIE: Look, I panicked! I hid the warp pad! You were just gonna leave, but I knew how much you really needed this! *yells* _Why don’t you ever let me help you?!_
> 
> PEARL: __WHY WON’T YOU JUST LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU, ROSE!?__

In Island Adventure, the episode where this parallel has the most emphasis, Sadie is revealed to be a natural with a spear, Pearl’s default weapon, though so far this skill hasn’t been mentioned since.

As the series goes on and Sadie gradually grows from being a controlling troubled teen into an independent and capable young woman, this parallel between her and Pearl fades away and more parallels between her and Greg start forming.

Since I haven’t analyzed Sadie herself in detail at this point, I don’t know when the Greg/Sadie parallel actually started, so we’ll have to settle with the earliest episodes I can think of: Sadie’s Song and A Story For Steven.

A couple of months ago, AJ Universe published an interesting video on Lars being a possible parallel of Rose that begins with a brief discussion on how the lyrics of “Like A Comet” from A Story For Steven and “Haven’t You Noticed (I’m A Star)” from  Sadie’s Song share a lot of thematic parallels with each other, leading to the suggestion that Sadie could be a parallel to Greg.

Though he wrote Sadie off as being a Greg parallel as Lars seems to now be heading down the path of becoming a parallel of Rose from her rebellion days, I have to agree with the comparison he drew between these two songs.  Thematically, they are very similar.  Both songs bring up the singer’s detractors, the popularity of the singer, and end by describe the singer as a celestial body (comet for Greg; star for Sadie).

While “Like A Comet” isn’t actually meant for Rose, it is actually rather reflective of Greg’s relationship with her and how his brief human life will one day end, with the lyrics describing him as a wandering spirit who has so much left to share and how he’ll fly, soar, and crash like a comet, because that’s all he is. 

> Some… say I have no direction, that I’m a light-speed distraction, that’s a knee-jerk reaction.  
>  Still this is the final frontier, everything is so clear, to my destiny I steer  
>  This life in the stars is all I’ve ever known,  
>  Stars and stardust in infinite space is my only home 
> 
> But the moment that I hit the stage, thousands of voices are calling my name  
>  And I know in my heart it’s been worth it all of the while  
>  And as my albums fly off of the shelves, handing out autographed pics of myself,  
>  This life I chose isn’t easy but sure is one heck of a ride  
>  At the moment that I hit the stage, I hear the universe calling my name  
>  And I know deep down in my heart I have nothing to fear  
>  And as the solar wind blows through my hair, knowing I have so much more left to share  
>  A wandering spirit who’s tearing its way through the cold atmosphere 
> 
> I’ll fly like a comet  
>  Soar like a comet  
>  Crash like a comet  
>  I’m just a comet 

“Haven’t You Noticed (I’m A Star)” is about a celebrity singer responding to detractors telling her to not make a scene by asking them, haven’t they noticed? She’s a star.  As with “Like A Comet”, the song seems thematically reflective of Sadie’s relationship with Lars, at least where it is at this point in the show.  How she feels that Lars doesn’t really notice her or how hard she tries.

> I can’t help it if I make a scene,  
>  Stepping out of my hot pink limousine.  
>  I’m turning heads, and I’m stopping traffic,  
>  When I pose, they scream, and when I joke, they laugh.
> 
> I’ve got a pair of eyes that they’re getting lost in,  
>  They’re hypnotized by the way I’m walking,  
>  I’ve got them dazzled like a stage magician,  
>  When I point, they look, and when I talk, they listen, well,
> 
> Everybody needs a friend,  
>  And I’ve got you and you and you  
>  So many, I can’t even name them,  
>  Can you blame me? I’m too famous.
> 
> Haven’t you noticed that I’m a star?  
>  I’m coming into view as the world is turning.  
>  Haven’t you noticed I’ve made it this far?
> 
> Now, everyone can see me burning. (x3) 

Even the key scenes for the songs are written to more or less mirror each other.  In Greg’s case, he sings the song in public as an outdoors concert, but the only one there to hear is Rose. and that is how they meet.  His concert marks the _end_ of his career as a singer-songwriter.  

Sadie plans on singing in public at Beach-a-Palooza where most of the entire town would be watching, but she panics and backs out after seeing Lars in the crowd, so Steven ends up being the one to sing it.  “Like A Comet” is sung at the beginning of a flashback and “Haven’t You Noticed (I’m A Star)” is sung at the end of the episode.  Though she doesn’t sing, the episode marks the _beginning_ of her own journey toward becoming a singer-songwriter.

 

## Greg/Rose & Larsadie Parallels: We Need To Talk / The New Lars

In The New Lars, Lars and Sadie deal with a relationship problem surprisingly similar to what Rose and Greg face during We Need To Talk, where their relationship is suffering from poor communication and a disconnect between them with one person taking the other’s feelings lightly.

In We Need To Talk, Rose belittles Greg as if he were a pet instead of her boyfriend, due to the dissonance between his short-lived humanity and her existence as an immortal Gem.

> GREG: We…we didn’t fuse.  
> 
> 
> ROSE: … _What!?_ *laughing hysterically* You can’t fuse! You are a human!
> 
> GREG: I _know_! That’s the problem! I’m just a human.  
> 
> 
> ROSE: That’s not a _problem!_ I _love_ humans! You’re all so _funny!_

In The New Lars, there is a similar dissonances between Lars and Sadie due to Lars’ very poorly managed mental illness, resulting in him treating her very dismissively in public without Sadie understanding why.

I say Lars’ behavior in The New Lars is the result of his severe anxiety as a later episode would reveal that he’s scared of people knowing that he loves her, and most likely the prospect of being publicly rejected by her, to the point of _running away from a potluck_ that he’d spent a whole episode preparing to go to.  The ending of The New Lars also reveals that while Lars _is_ in love with Sadie, he _still_ hasn’t figured out that she likes him, presumably because he is a self-loathing walking disaster. 

This results Lars behaving like this toward Sadie in public during The New Lars:

> SADIE: Would you… want to come by my place? I know it’s kind of been awhile, but we could get some food, watch some movies.
> 
> LARS: Nah. Sounds boring. I’ll see if Buck wants to do stuff.
> 
> SADIE: [annoyed] Well, I hope you guys have fun together.  
> 
> 
> LARS: Yeah. We will.

Neither Greg nor Sadie know where they stand with their respective love interest and call them out for their dismissive attitude.  

> GREG:  **I’m starting to wonder if you… _respect_ me? **  
> 
> 
> ROSE: *starts laughing* Oh, you’re hilarious, Mr. Universe. *continues laughing*
> 
> GREG: Rose, please!
> 
> ( _Rose continues laughing._ )
> 
> GREG: Can you just-
> 
> ( _Rose continues laughing._ )
> 
> GREG: Talk to me for one second, like a real person!?

In Sadie’s case, she’s actually talking to _Steven_ who has possessed Lars’ body ( _without permission_ ).  She is also close to calling it quits on their relationship, unlike Greg who was trying to make the relationship work and understood  _why_ there was a dissonance between them

> SADIE: Look, It’s like yesterday I asked if you wanted to come over, but you made a big deal, saying no in front of Steven, and now you’re here? [Sadie looks confused] It’s just, it’s getting to be kind of a roller coaster, isn’t it?  
> 
> 
> LARS (STEVEN):  [Mood suddenly changes] Roller coasters are fun.
> 
> SADIE:  [Sighs] It’s like you’re one way in private and a different way in public. You act like I don’t know you don’t want to be seen with me, but I do know. I’m not stupid.
> 
> LARS (STEVEN):  Don’t be sad.
> 
> ( _Lars (Steven) puts his hand on Sadie’s shoulder but she slides it away._ )
> 
> SADIE: **It’s just, I need to know. How do you really feel about me?**

Soon after this moment, Steven confesses for Lars to her and Sadie responds with horror and rage because of the incredibly bad timing, throwing “Lars” out and yelling at him to get out of her life (so apparently Lars was correct to be terrified of rejection if she knew how he really felt, though in the form of a self-fulfilled prophecy).  She rescinds only after finding out that it’s Steven she’s talking to.

Steven tells Lars what happened and how telling Sadie he loved her hurt her, resulting in the older teen deciding to do right by Sadie and show a more openly caring side to her in public, and also tone his jerk facade down several notches.

In both The New Lars and We Need To Talk, communication between two people in a troubled relationship results in them resolving to work harder at it.  Unlike with Greg and Rose, however, the only reason why Sadie and Lars’ relationship can progress is because Sadie talks to Steven as Lars and then Steven tells Lars what happened.

It’s interesting to see that when Lars and Sadie’s relationship is rocky and on the verge of collapse, they parallel Rose and Greg _after_ they started dating _,_  as shown in Sadie’s Song and The New Lars.   It’s only when they begin to parallel Rose and Greg from  _before_ they met that it becomes most evident that Lars and Sadie really do care deeply for each other and have a shot at making their relationship really work.

The parallels between them and Steven’s parents, plus their respective near love confessions in “The Good Lars” and “Sadie Killer” respectively (even if it was to Steven and not to the other’s face both times), leaves me the impression that Lars and Sadie’s relationship is being shaped into something that’s actually rather poignant and can be called something of a love story, and the show is ready to set aside the ill-advised ambiguity that has surrounded their relationship in previous seasons in order to present a more openly romantic relationship between the two. 

 After all, they _are_ the teen parallel of **_the_  **love story of _Steven Universe_ ; the one that ended in the titular hero’s birth and kicked off the show’s plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really late note, but I just realized Steven can be compared to Pearl in The New Lars, which makes some sense since Steven is indicated to have something of a probably platonic precocious crush on Lars. Pearl played an important role in We Need To Talk by casting light on Rose and Greg's hidden relationship problems, which involved fusing into Rainbow Quartz with Rose.


	16. Immortality & Larsadie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You don’t get with someone because “guaranteed happily ever after,” but because you want to be with them as long as you can, even though it won’t be forever and eventually one of you WILL suffer loss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of this goes for any other Lars/human ships as well, not just Larsadie.

  **anonymous** asked:

> The one thing I've always been curious about is if they'll address that Lars is gonna have to watch Sadie die (along with everyone) of old age while he stays the same. I know it's been beaten to death at this point but it always seemed like the biggest roadblock between them being together. Rose never thought all that much on it and she died before Greg did so we never see that consequence. If/when Lars learns that he'll live forever I can't imagine he'd just let that one slip past.

Yes.  This seems very likely to be Lars’ eventual fate.  However, I  **don’t**  consider it the biggest roadblock between Lars and Sadie getting together.

They already love each other and suffered through losing each other.   Sadie is one of Lars’ only human friends, and he’s the person she’s closest to.  I can’t see them just being like “well we won’t be able to age together so let’s not even bother.”  

Besides, that would be cowardly, running away from potential heartbreak even though they both care for each other.  Lars would probably be tempted to, but he’s trying so hard not to act like a coward anymore.  I think he’d honestly rather die than run and hide again, actually.

Even if Lars hadn’t died and come back as some magical being, one of them still would’ve eventually outlived the other.  That’s just part of life.  You don’t get with someone because “guaranteed happily ever after” but because  _ **you want to be with them as long as you can**_ , even though it won’t be forever and eventually one of you  _will_ suffer loss.

Not every couple even  _gets_ to grow old with each other.  Sickness happens.  Disease happens.  But many of them stick together anyway.  One still young and vibrant.  The other, sickly and aged before their time.  While Lars’ lifespan has been expanded dramatically, what would happen to them would really be more like one of those relationships.  Only they’d actually be able to enjoy each other’s company a bit  _longer_ than those couples, so… sweet and sour grapes, I guess.

As for roadblocks, if they’ve stuck together  _this_ long after all the crap they’ve put each other through, then knowing they won’t be getting old together shouldn’t be much of a roadblock.

 


	17. The Price of Resurrection: A Discussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The more we see the cool side of Lars’ revival and how much happier and more confident he seems to have become since then, the more I wonder when the OTHER shoe will fall.

The more we see the cool side of Lars’ revival and how much happier and more confident he seems to have become since then, the more I wonder when the  _other_ shoe will fall. 

As great as it is that he was resurrected and now has powers and all, his revival is ultimately a slap to the face of the overarching themes of the show of accepting loss and letting go.  

Usually, the counter to a person coming back to life via unnatural means in a show like  _Steven Universe,_  is that either the person who brings them back dies as a direct result or something happens to the revived person as a result of coming back to emphasize that defying the natural laws of the universe (i.e. death) is  _wrong_.  

For example, it’s fairly common for revived characters to become immortal, “trapped inside their life” as Doctor Who once put it, and have to suffer through watching everyone else around them grow old and die.  

Or they might come back wrong in some other way.

But Lars  _didn’t_  just come back to life.  He came back  _strong, powerful, magical,_ and  _surrounded by nigh-immortal friends who accepted him as their own_.  It’s left ambiguous if he’s immortal, but if he is (which looks very likely the more I look at it), then he wouldn’t have to watch everyone he cares about die.  Only the people who he had a chance of having to watch die anyway.

Sure, there have been some drawbacks to being revived. In Lars’ Head, he was implied to be the “[Inhuman Human](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FInhumanHuman&t=M2Q4M2JjMDU5ZWIwYTZhOTQwYTE5MzYwZjQ5NGMwOWNlYjFhYmEzNixTWHNFRURkRw%3D%3D&b=t%3ASYIfbva-YpypIlsxQJndjg&p=https%3A%2F%2Fmetawasteoftime.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F167117423039%2Fyou-know-the-more-we-see-the-cool-side-of&m=1)” variation of the “Came Back Wrong” trope, but it’s been really downplayed.  Especially since he was extremely insecure as a human already.  Sure, his skin color was altered ( ** _to his clear discomfort and distress_**   ~~so can we please stop with the “I’m pink! I like it!” nonsense? It’s gross~~ ) and his humanity was momentarily put into question, but the skin thing is an issue a person can run into  _without_  coming back from the dead (skin pigmentation disorders do exist) and the question regarding his humanity was more or less dealt with in Lars’ Head.

These things don’t come anywhere  _close_ to cancelling out the good that he’s gotten from coming back.  As he is now, Lars is not just breaking one of the longstanding overarching themes of the show; he’s  _demolishing_ it.  Sure, Steven makes a few “oh crap” faces throughout Lars’ Head in response to the changes to Lars’ body, but we’ve yet to see justification for this.

We’ve also only seen one other Rose Quartz reanimated being on the show. This suggests Rose may have been reluctant to use this power, but why?

What could be a bad enough side affect for  _Rose Quartz_ , a healer  _and_ warrior, to turn down the prospect of bringing the dead back to life with powers in droves? 

And why would the Gems, who looks down on organic beings and create new gems by consuming the life-force of entire planets, have a Quartz class with the power to  _bestow_ life-force on dead  _organics_?

There’s one theory that Lars will eventually become the “[damaged soul](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FDamagedSoul&t=N2U5YjMwY2M2M2UxNWRhMDQyMjE5ZGZmMTQyZTI5ODM0YjU1NjQ1OCxTWHNFRURkRw%3D%3D&b=t%3ASYIfbva-YpypIlsxQJndjg&p=https%3A%2F%2Fmetawasteoftime.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F167117423039%2Fyou-know-the-more-we-see-the-cool-side-of&m=1)” variant of the “came back wrong” trope, but given that he was revived some time ago, I kinda doubt this will happen (also Lion is fine, so that wouldn’t really make sense).

So what then?

* * *

 **[blairakiyama](https://blairakiyama.tumblr.com/)**  replied to your post [“…….. You know, the more we see the cool side of Lars’ revival and how…”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167117423039/you-know-the-more-we-see-the-cool-side-of)

> I’m pretty sure their will be a cost of Lars being resurrected; like him being immortal or something even worse

I am 90% certain he is immortal, actually.  At least in the ageless and incapable of dying of natural causes sense of the word.  But it still wouldn’t be much of a cost in Lars’ case.  

As I said, he’s surrounded by nigh-immortal beings who he loves and trusts.  This kinda undermines the point of  _why_ characters are rendered immortal in stories like SU when they’re resurrected.  Everyone who has ever been born has a chance of outliving everyone they ever knew.  Immortality, usually, is an extreme version of this unfortunate reality where a character has to endure this pain, repeatedly, forever.

Thanks to the existence of the Off Colors, Lars  _won’t_  be outliving everyone he knows and loves, even though he will almost certainly outlive all the other humans in Beach City as his post-resurrection lifespan was more or less confirmed to be supernaturally longer than that of a normal human at SDCC (where it was confirmed that Lion is almost 200 years old). 

So whatever price his resurrection will have, it will have to be something other than immortality and supernatural longevity.

* * *

  **[ricardoreviews](http://ricardoreviews.tumblr.com/) ** asked:

> I always took the notion that Lars is gonna have to sacrifice everything he didn't appreciate before. Whether he's with Sadie or not he's gonna outlive her and everyone else he knew. He's essentially been barred from ever really experiencing full humanity again. He can't live a truly fulfilling life and then pass he just lives. It's sorta like how Steven is on both the human and gem side. Lars was THROWN across to the gem side and can't return even if he wanted to.

Mm, true.  He’ll still has the Off Colors, but he’s still going to outlive not only every human he knew growing up, but Beach City and possibly even  _the Earth itself_.

I think he can still have a fulfilling life even with having to deal with all that, but yeah, he can’t experience full humanity in and of itself ever again.  Since he’s in a similar situation to Steven, they would probably lend each other emotional support, but their situations are very different. Lars will probably ache over the loss of his full humanity for a very long time.  Steven won’t be able to help him with that as he has no idea what it feels like to be a full human; he’s always been half-gem.

Edit: And of course, there’s the implication that Steven isn’t immortal (though his  _gem_ is) so at some point Lars will probably lose him as well.  

((Though I must admit I am not a fan of the “Lars didn’t appreciate what he had so now we’re going to punish him for being ungrateful by taking it all away” interpretation of the narrative.  Also the ending of Lars’ Head was basically him attempting to sacrifice those things to help his friends and the Off Colors and narrative being like “no, that’s stupid”))

 

 


	18. Steven's Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven's shapeshifting and fusion abilities are different due to him having an actual body with DNA and he has a lot to learn about how to control his powers, but when it comes down to it, it’s still Rose's gem, and that’s where all his magic powers comes from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was technically part of the discussion about side effects to Lars' resurrection, but was off-topic enough that it felt weird to not post it as it's own thing.

**Anonymous** asked: 

> I've wondered if the comparisons to Lion are apt as Steven's powers generally don't work like a Rose 2.0. Given how much Steven can affect DNA in things like cat fingers and his own aging I wouldn't be surprised if Lars' transformation is a lot more severe than it seems. Especially given how Steven's powers are directly tied to his emotions and how some things like Lars' still present scar don't exactly imply a full 100% heal like Steven seems to think.

Ehhh… maybe this is just me, but I actually find it kinda annoying how fans claim that Steven’s powers are different from Rose’s or their powers have been “halved” by him being half-human when we’ve seen no hard evidence for  _any_ of this _._   His shapeshifting and fusion abilities  _are_ different due to him having an actual body with DNA and he has a lot to learn about how to control his powers, but when it comes down to it,  _ **it’s still Rose's gem**_ , and that’s where all his magic powers comes from.

Steven’s healing powers have been shown to work either correctly or _not at all_.  The only exception the show has given are attempts to heal corrupted gems and not even Rose could do that (so it doesn’t reflect on Steven’s half-gem status that he couldn’t either).

Now, there are jokes about how Rose had to lick a lion to resurrect it, but what if  _all_  her Gem fluids had healing properties like what we see with Steven’s tears and spit, just that her tears were better known by the Crystal Gems? What if Steven’s feeling of failure:

> _”Amethyst, I’m sorry! I can’t do anything right. Now I’m going to lose you, and it’s all my fault”_

and fear of being rejected by the Gems was what kept his tears from healing Amethyst’s gem, kinda like how his spit stopped healing when his belief in himself was shaken in House Guest? That would explain why his healing magic didn’t kick in until Connie cheered him up at the end of An Indirect Kiss.

> STEVEN: But if I don’t have powers, then I can’t hang out with Amethyst or Garnet or Pearl, and I-I can’t go on missions!
> 
> CONNIE: You don’t need any powers to be here with me.

Steven didn’t understand how his healing powers worked at the time, so he reached the conclusion that having healing spit meant he didn’t have healing tears at all and so he never tried to use them again.

As to why they worked in Off Colors and why Lars would retain his scar, I think when Steven cried on Lars’ corpse, he wasn’t thinking about bringing him back from the dead (because he had no idea Rose had that power and he certainly didn’t associate his tears with his healing magic) or even that he couldn’t save Lars, but simply that Lars was  _gone_ and he desperately wanted him back.  

His train of thought would’ve been on Lars when he was grieving, not himself and his failures and self-pity.  He shed tears of loving sorrow for the friend he just lost who he’d loved like a brother and had been so scared and sad and so very brave and now would never get the chance to see his loved ones or attempt any of the things he’d wanted to do but had been too afraid to try ever again.  I believe this is why his healing tears  _could_ kick in and give Lars back to him.

> GARNET **:**  Steven, your mother had healing tears that flowed from her gem. She felt real love for those around her. She felt real sorrow when they were hurt.  You have the Rose Quartz gem now. ***** I know that power is in you, too.  

Because Steven’s healing powers were focused on  _resurrecting_ Lars (which would’ve been a  **huge** undertaking), perhaps the magic was focused on reviving all that  _dead tissue_  and healing his mortal wounds and severe injuries like his destroyed eye and the bleeding itself, resulting in some aches and scars remaining after his revival.

 ***** And this goes back to my first point about Steven’s powers all coming from Rose’s gem, and how the assumption that him being half-human means his abilities are weaker than what she had is actually pretty nonsensical as Steven’s gem is still a FULL gem.

* * *

  **Anonymous** asked:

> I agree that Steven's powers aren't "halved" in any way (in fact I find the term "half human" kind of a misnomer it's more like a full human body carrying a gem.) I just personally believe that his powers can do MORE simply because he has access to DNA which allows him to do things no gem can do before. It seems kinda crazy to insinuate his human side is irrelevant in this equation but that's just me. Sugar did mention in an interview that Lars and Lion were "empowered in the same way."

Ah. Sorry for the misunderstanding then.

An unfortunate number of theories regarding Lars’ new form have circled around the idea of Steven being somehow weaker than Rose due to being half-gem. I may have misread what you were trying to convey a bit.

I agree that it’s strange to think Steven’s powers would be halved or weakened by his humanity. The idea has just been thrown around a lot in this fandom.

I assure you, I’m not trying to dismiss his humanity. I just hate the theory that his humanity would mess up his gem powers. I seem to recall his humanity being hinted to give him powers Rose could only dream of. It would enhance his powers, not ruin them.

 


	19. Anxiety Buds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really like that Lars shows signs of having become a close and considerate friend to Rhodonite, who struggles with anxiety like him. This is good. More of this, please.

**anonymous   **asked:

> something that I really liked about Lars of the stars (both the clip and the poster) is that it showed subtlety, how close Lars and Rhodonite have become over their time together .In the poster we see Rhodonite clinging to Lars, showng that she feels safe around him and in the clip when Lars is ordering the crew he speaks to her very calmly because he know that she still is very anxious

Ah, sorry for taking so long to answer.  I was sick in bed for a few days, so all my answers and analyses had to be put on the backburner for while.

Yeah, Lars’ friendship with Rhodonite is something I really can’t wait to see the show explore further.  He has never really known anyone who is dealing with anxiety and being scared “all the time,” and it’s possible this is why he grew up with all those feelings of shame and not belonging, seeing himself as not just “wrong,” but  _bad_.  Understandable, given that society and the media tends to equate cowardly with immoral and bad.  Lars probably would’ve learned how to deal with anxiety healthily a lot earlier if he had met someone like Rhodonite sooner, because it really does help to know other people with a similar struggle, even if you’re not close friends.  Just _knowing_ that there are other people who struggle with those feelings can help immensely.

Off Colors certainly drew a few parallels to them, starting with how they’re both fearful, suffer anxiety, and have to be calmed by a friend upon being spooked while meeting someone.

Unfortunately, we don’t really see them interact one-on-one in Wanted outside of when he used his body to shield her gems from the final Robonoid and when she momentarily accepted his offer to stay behind on Homeworld alone so she and the others could escape to Earth. 

We see hints of a close friendship between them in the Lars of the Stars promo, but don’t get to see it grow. I honestly wish there were more fics and fanart out there focusing on them bonding, since it’s not clear if we’ll get to see that growth through flashbacks or not.  Which is a shame, since I really like that we have two characters with anxiety who are friends with each other and looking out for one another, as shown when Lars speaks to her softly.  

(In fact, throughout the promo, Lars speaks to each of the off colors in a unique way, showing how close he’s gotten to each of them individually.)

The poster, though, is an homage to old sci-fi adventure covers.  Complete with  a woman clinging to the hero’s leg while he strikes a dominant pose. It’s a fun poster, but I do have mixed feelings about them using that particular cliche, even though it comes with the cover style being parodied. The pose used for Lars is a classic dominant hero pose, though perhaps not as common as the “sword held high” pose.

So, sadly, Rhodonite’s pose doesn’t really have anything to do with how close she is to Captain Lars.  Unless she’s helping him hold his balance on a platform when he’s trying to be all badass space hero, since it looks like she’s standing, despite being much taller than him in canon.


	20. Stranded Event Predictions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some predictions for the long-awaited Stranded event. (already outdated)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a little data error here. The episode event is called Stranded. The episode titles have been confirmed to be "Lars of the Stars" and "Jungle Moon." Going by the Jungle Moon synopsis, I was still right about Stevonnie getting stranded, but for the wrong reasons. Also maybe they will see alien life that isn't gem or gem-based after all.

  **anonymous** asked:

> assuming that the rumors are true and Steven is going to spend 5 episodes with lars and the rest of the off colors in space, do you have any predictions about the plot and what we migh see?

I’m not sure there will be five episodes, since only two new episodes are coming out on Jan. 5. However, it was just released that one of the two upcoming episodes is called Stranded, confirming that Connie and Steven do get separated from the Off Colors for an episode.

I don’t think we’ll be seeing any new alien species, since they land on a planet in gem-controlled space, but we might see some angst from Steven about the possibility that he might be getting yet another friend killed (without the episode explicitly stating this because SU got really weird about the subject of death after Lars’).  Except this time he’s at least with a friend who is far better prepared for a space adventure than poor frightened Lars.  But we’ll probably also get some nice bonding moments between him and Connie.  Probably some ship tease too.

There’s also probably going to be some angst on  _Captain Lars’_  part, since he looked pretty anxious about Steven being there, especially since he sent Steven back to Earth to protect him and suddenly there he is in the middle of their conflict with Emerald with another kid in tow, and _then Lars fails to protect him and Connie_  and they end up crashing on a planet.  I imagine nearly losing Steven would shake Lars up pretty badly, especially if the Off Colors don’t know exactly which planet Stevonnie crashed on.  I also hope that the whole “let me be somebody who deserved [to be brought back to life]” thing will be addressed because that’s a really unhealthy mentality to have.

Sadly, this news means we probably _won’t_ be getting a flashback episode explaining what happened to Lars between Dewey Wins and Kevin Party, which is what I think most of us were hoping for (or at least I was).  Then again, maybe we’ll get one after Lars retrieves Steven and Connie from the planet as they probably won’t go home right afterward, seeing as Lars and his crew would’ve had to have doubled back after fleeing Emerald to help Steven and Connie, so wouldn’t be out of immediate danger yet.

MC Bear Bear will probably be part of the interpersonal conflict in at least the first episode. Steven will probably be insecure over packing the stuffed bear after seeing the “new” Lars and hide him when he gives Lars the care package, because of how different Lars is now.  He looked pretty worried at the end of the Lars of the Stars promo, and I suspect this might be why.  He’s excited to see Lars being a badass space pirate captain, but he’s also unsure how to feel about it, because Lars is  _so_ changed. Almost beyond recognition. However, I think Steven will probably admit to packing him and give him to Lars either at the end of the first episode or at the end of the arc when he realizes the dashing young space pirate still the same terrified self-loathing teenager he left back on Homeworld and isn’t as strong and fearless as he’s pretending to be in front of his enemies.

Lasly, Emerald will probably continue to be a major threat in all the episodes, regardless of how many there end up being.


	21. Their Trust In Steven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it strange that the Crystal Gems didn't go with Steven and Connie to check on Lars?

**anonymous** asked:

> Do you think its kind of weird how the main CG's now a days have really no sense of urgency, especially when it comes to Homeworld threats. It as if there doing the same thing Steven does which is downplaying everything( which I hope is addressed soon), and going to the Status Quo. We don't even see them follow Steven and Connie in Lars of the Stars clip which is super unsafe. You would think their defeat from Aquamarine would have been a wake up call for them.

No, not really?  The Crystal Gems’ sense of urgency has always been a bit wonky after Season 1, presumably because things haven’t been nearly as bad as they thought they’d be back then.  

They managed to escape Peridot’s ship rather easily thanks to Steven’s powers.  Peridot became just something of a nuisance afterwards and then ended up becoming a Crystal Gem herself.  Lapis became something of a reluctant ally to them and feels affection for Steven.  Jasper ended up being less of a major threat and more of a personal rival for Amethyst before getting corrupted after attempting to build herself an army of corrupted gems and then fusing with one.  The Rubies were feared at first, but ended up being easily tricked and dealt with, and all Navy did was steal back her ship even though she actually could’ve done far worse than that after gaining their trust.  

Then after Greg was abducted, the zoo heist to rescue him went off with barely a hitch and they made new gem friends with the Famethyst; their only enemies there turned out to just be Holly Blue and the Diamonds and their Pearls.  Even Aquamarine was arguably a threat they probably _could’ve_  figured out how to deal with eventually, but didn’t get a chance to do so because Steven decided to rush in and sacrifice himself.

The Crystal Gems  _were_ paranoid about Steven after the events of I Am My Mom for a time, but only becausehe basically threw his life awayin a rather poorly thought out act of self-sacrifice.  It seems they’ve calmed down some since the night he came back. Otherwise, they trust his capabilities as one of them.  He’s just as fully trained as Amethyst and even surpassed her for a time during Season 3.  As for why they let Steven and Connie go into space without them, both him and Connie have also been trained to go on missions without the older CGs supervising them.  

The CGs probably assumed, like Steven, that Lars would still be hiding in the Homeworld Kindergarten where the threat level wouldn’t be too bad.  **No one expected to find Lars and the Off Colors flying around in space being chased by an angry Homeworld gem.** Not Steven. Not the gems.  Not one person on the show or the fandom predicted that Lars would become a space pirate.  I came real close to calling it at one point, though.  After Wanted, I was a wee bit obsessed with all the symbolism used for Lars.  And the symbolism and hints for Lars of the Stars were  _there_  as well.  Unfortunately, I assumed I had to be missing something and chose to ignore the  conclusions I reached because “ _there’s no way Lars would become a cunning thief who disguises himself as a female-presenting space alien at some point_.”

> EMERALD: It was an insult when you  **impersonated imperial officers** …

(Dammit, past me….)

Because everyone thought he would still be in the Kindergarten with the off colors, the only threat Steven and Connie expected to encounter weren’t enemy Homeworld gems, but the shattering Robonoids.  And those probably wouldn’t have shown up either as it was implied in Wanted that the Off Colors don’t usually have to deal with Robonoids directly like that (otherwise they probably would’ve died a long time ago). They cornered the off colors then because they followed Steven and Lars to them.

And the Robonoids only gave the two boys such a hard time because, unlike Steven and Connie during the Lars of the Stars promo, Lars and Steven were very much not in peak mental or physical condition at that time. They basically faced the Robonoids as two tired and starved sad boys full of regret who were already more or less just waiting for death and individually feeling like they  _deserved_ to die. 

 They probably wouldn’t have been much of a problem for a fully energized Stevonnie had Lars still been in the Homeworld Kindergarten with the off colors when they showed up.

 


	22. Connie Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To be perfectly honest, I don’t feel this fandom gives this sweet girl enough credit. She’s one of the most developed and fleshed out characters on the show, but it seems like fans tend to forget about her when discussing character development arcs.

**anonymous** asked:

> I'm a HUGE fan of your SU meta posts? If I'm not being too forward, could you do a meta post on Connie? Just what your thoughts on her are.

Thank you!! Oh, no, you’re not being too forward at all!  I’ve actually been thinking I should write a meta on Connie for a while now.  She’s one of my favorites.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t feel this fandom gives this sweet girl enough credit.  She’s one of the most developed and fleshed out characters on the show, but it seems like fans tend to forget about her when discussing character development arcs (Amethyst also gets the short stick there).  

Connie’s clever, passionate even about “little things” like her favorite book series, fascinated by a wide variety of subjects and things, and she cares deeply for her friends.  And her character development is incredible.  While she was always a kind girl, not a moody aloof jerk or a cold technician for Homeworld, she’s still grown a tremendous amount over the course of the serie, going from being a quiet, lonely and insecure wallflower who is afraid of her strict parents to an enthusiastic and brave young swordfighter.  Her growth out of viewing herself as being nothing compared to Steven and beating herself down for this is also worth mentioning: 

> CONNIE:I don’t care!  **So I’m not Steven.** Maybe he’s really great at helping people work out these arguments, maybe he’s really patient and caring, even though it must be hard for him having to be the adult for a bunch of super-powered children! 
> 
> LAPIS: We’re both thousands of years older than you. 
> 
> CONNIE:Then act like it! Be the Gems you’ve been for thousands of years instead of playing this silly game. It’s impossible trying to solve problems if we’re just trying to copy other people.What’s the point of this? We’ll never be the Crystal Gems. We’re just… the Crystal Temps. But we have our own way of doing things. So, let’s go back to that, to fix this mess we made. 

Of course, she’s got her flaws and sometimes she screws up, like when she told her parents that Steven lived with his mom and dad, but her reasons are always relatable, especially since they are coming from a lonely child with extremely strict parents.

Even when she was upset and hurt by Steven’s actions in Season 4 and needed time away from him to deal with the trauma she’d just gone through in seeing her best and first friend give up and hand himself over to Homeworld and quite possibly his death without even giving them a chance, it’s revealed that the only reason she didn’t get back in touch with him sooner is because **she’s still just a thirteen year old girl who had never been in this kind of situation and didn’t know how to deal**.

> CONNIE : Steven, I wasn’t trying to ignore you. I was going to text you back. I-I wrote, “I can’t talk to you right now,” but then I realized if I sent it, that would be talking to you. And it didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t making any sense. If we were going to talk, I thought it’s got to be in person.So I rode Lion to your house, but there was a note that said, “Gone vacationing,” and then I ran into Kevin and he said you’d be here, but, uh, maybe this is still too soon. I-I don’t even know what to say to you. I’m angry. I miss you. I feel like I’m out of my mind. 

Connie is and always has been an  _amazing_ girl.


	23. Why I Believe In Ronaldo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I refuse to believe Ronaldo is just a filler character whose personal arc is heading nowhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This topic will be expanded upon later in more detail. They won't be posted back-to-back, but I will update this chapter to include a link at the bottom to it once the continuation is complete (i.e. after editing is finished).
> 
> Edit: Okay, I have decided to leave this as its own thing as it's now out of date. However, most of what I said here still stands, and I am still intending on going back to this topic.

**[mambocat](https://mambocat.tumblr.com/)**  replied to your post [“bestknee: i fuckin love that there is this idea with some people…”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167321449504/bestknee-i-fuckin-love-that-there-is-this-idea)

> Matt and Ben clearly put a lot of love into Ronaldo’s inclusion in the show - but I’m not sure if he’s anything to do with Rebecca Sugar and her overall plans, like Lars is. I don’t know if this choice is deliberate to add to the whole “outsider” thing he has going on.

I think the difference between Lars and Ronaldo has more to do with what direction their arcs are going.   Lars’ arc was always about bravery and learning to be true to himself.  Ronaldo’s arc seems focused on the concept of accepting the world as it is and the pursuit of knowledge and truth.  So they’d be utilized in completely different ways within the plot.  They’re both important characters, I believe, but not in the same way.  

For one thing, Lars’ role (having fear/bravery as a theme) looks to be active/aggressive, while Ronaldo’s looks to be more passive.   In many fandoms, passive characters are often mistaken for being less important than aggressive ones and their arcs are often written off as insufferably slow or even nonexistent.  I kinda feel like this is what’s going on with Ronaldo.  In just four to six character-centric episodes, he’s actually changed and grown so  _so_ much, but the themes of his character are rather passive (that is to say, non-aggressive) in nature and so his arc can come across as sluggish and unimpressive.

That’s not to say Ronaldo  _can’t_  end up becoming a fighter as well, since he has taken on a rather aggressive role in past episodes, but there are several factors that make me think otherwise.  He’s always been depicted as being in the wrong to do so when he gets on the offensive, the focus in his arc has always been on his perception of the world around him and truth-seeking, and boys are passive in SU as a rule with Steven and Lars being the only clear exceptions (and so far Lars is the only  _offensive_ fighter in the show that’s not a girl or female-presenting, or one of Steven's fusions).

Season 5 is said to revolve around solving the mystery around who killed Pink Diamond (seeking truth). This could be how Ronaldo enters the main plot: as an investigator of the truth. I’m not getting my hopes  _too_ high for it though due to how the cast so far have treated Ronaldo and his disconnect from the main cast so far (and also the fact that Steven has yet to mention the whole “oh yeah my Mom didn’t shatter Pink Diamond after all” thing to anyone), but it’s worth consideration anyway.

If Ronaldo wasn’t part of Sugar’s overall plans, then why would they give him his own episodes and something resembling an arc?  The crew has always been pretty adamant that there is no such thing as filler on their show.  This has become more clear as the show continues and episodes previously seen as meaningless become more significant in hindsight.  If Sugar has nothing planned for Ronaldo, then wouldn’t that mean all four of his current episodes, his character arc, and any foreshadowing tied to his character are all meaningless and nothing but filler? Filler that was somehow put in behind her back or something?

Also, consider, Sadie’s character arc is going even  _slower_ than Ronaldo’s.  It wasn’t until the end of _Season 4_  that she realized she should be fixing her own life instead of Lars’.  And she’s only has two episodes, widely spaced apart, focusing specifically on her and her own personal growth (Sadie’s Song, Sadie Killer).  This hasn’t stopped Sugar from saying she was always planned to be an important character. 

But perhaps I’m a bit more optimistic about Ronaldo’s role than most fans because I didn’t develop any preconceived theories about what direction his character is going?  To be honest, I don’t really understand some of the things the fans wanted/hoped from him in his past episodes.

Like, take Rocknaldo, for example.  Quite a few fans were hoping the gems would take Ronaldo on missions and train him.  However, the CGs didn’t know him like they knew Connie before she asked to be trained (and she’d fought alongside them before that point).  And their experiences with Ronaldo in his previous episodes probably didn’t really endear him to them.  He’d previously shown himself to be dangerously reckless and impulsive, and so caught up in his own “truths” that he ended up being a danger to both himself and others.  I can understand why they’d be hesitant to accept him into the group and take him on missions right away.  His character needs to grow some more before he’s ready to make that leap.  And he’ll probably have to prove to them that he can handle it first.

A lot of fans were also hoping that Ronaldo would annoy the gems with lots of questions and seek to learn about them properly, but honestly? I didn’t think his character was quite there yet.  There wasn’t really anything in his previous episode to suggest that he would (or  _could_ ) go from creating his own answers to seeking answers from others just like that.   However, judging by the end of the episode, it looks like he’s starting to ask questions and learning about other people and cultures in a considerate and meaningful way.  Or, at the very least, is now more clearly heading in that direction.

Lastly, other fans were also upset and disappointed by how he treated Steven in Rocknaldo, but I saw nothing to suggest that there wasn’t a possibility that his overwhelming fear that he “really is nothing” would eventually result in him placing himself in a position of superiority over someone more “special” than him to protect a bruised ego (which understandably formed from the gems’ apparent neglect of him).

I dunno, I personally felt like it all made sense for where his character was at the time of the episode, but maybe it’s just me? *shrug* 

(Edit: his character also grew a little by the end of the episode and he looked to be on better terms with Steven than ever, so Rocknaldo left me with good feelings regarding Ronaldo’s development overall.)


	24. Steven, Lars, & Magic Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Steven think Lars is living his magic destiny? Or will he believe Lars is living his own?

  **anonymous** asked:

> I know this is all speculation, and there's only little evidence to prove it, but do you think Steven is going to realize Lars is living his supposed magic destiny. Lars the one human in the series who wanted nothing to do with Steven weirdness is the most directly involved now. Lars has knowledge of Homeworld, has his own ship, a leading a group of rebel gems.

I originally wrote this thinking you meant Lars was living Steven’s supposed magic destiny, but then I had second doubts about which “him” you were talking about when you said “ _his_  supposed magic destiny, so I’ve expanded my reply a bit and split it into two parts.

 

**“… going to realize Lars is living [Steven’s] supposed magic destiny”**

Sorta? Not really?  We had a whole episode on Steven realizing there wasn’t some grand plan for his birth back in Season 4 (Lion 4: Alternate Ending), meaning he’d know Lars isn’t living  _his_ magical destiny at this point.

> GREG: Steven, she just wanted you to be you. When you have a kid, you have no idea who they’re gonna be. Even Garnet couldn’t predict it. That’s what was so exciting to your mom, that life is full of so many possibilities, and you would get to explore them for yourself. I mean, you could be Steven or Nora or anyone else. And you can always change your name.
> 
> \--
> 
> STEVEN: So that’s it. I’m just… supposed to be her kid.
> 
> GREG: Well… yeah. Is that okay?
> 
> STEVEN: Yeah. [Wipes face] I think I can handle that.

However, I’m hoping that Lars’ current situation will followup on that episode. The idea that there was some grand planned out magical destiny in mind for him caused the poor kid no small amount of unnecessary stress.  I think seeing Lars, of all people, living the “magical destiny life” would help reassure Steven even more over the whole destiny thing.  

Of course, character regression is possible, but Steven’s only really regressed as a character before for realistic reasons. Like coping after a traumatic experience (Dewey Wins - Kevin Party).  He learned a healthy coping method for dealing with painful emotions and thoughts in Mindful Education, which he later passed on to Lars in Wanted, but it’s realistic for him to slip up now and then and sometimes cope poorly.  He’s only fourteen and dealing with a tremendous amount of trauma and pressure for a kid, including the weight of the outcome of a war due to his existential crisis over “being his mom”.  

There is no reason for Steven to regress in this particular instance.

 

**“… going to realize Lars is living his [own] supposed magic destiny”**

Now  _this_ would actually be interesting.  Steven reaching the conclusion that  _Lars_  has some great magical destiny could make way for some interesting storytelling and I can actually see that kind of happening.  

He doesn’t know why his tears worked then or why they resurrected Lars (given Steven’s tender nature, you can’t tell me he hasn’t cried over a dead animal before), so I can see Steven reaching the conclusion that there must be something special about Lars (and Lion) that allowed them to be brought back from the dead.

Especially if it turns out there’s more going on with the off colors than meet the eye, though I personally very much doubt this will happen.  Sure, the idea of Lars and the off colors leading another rebellion against Homeworld (or at the very least  _inspiring_  one unwittingly) is an appealing one, particularly given Lars’ dramatic and flashy defiant attitude in the SDCC Promo, but I’m 100% certain they’re just trying to escape to Earth right now.


	25. Singer & Rebel Followup: Who Is The Pearl?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m not really sure there is a Pearl, per se. At least, not in the sense of a third person who pines after the Rose parallel (Lars). Sadie herself acted as the Pearl of the Rebellion to Lars’ Rose in the first season. It wasn’t until the second season that she started to develop into more of a Greg parallel. But, let’s suppose there is a “pining Pearl” equivalent, or will be one. Who then will be the Pearl?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was not particularly fair to Pearl here.  Her relationship with Rose was more complicated than an unrequited crush on a woman in love with someone else.  Unfortunately, this meta was already posted and it is what it is.

  **Anonymous**  asked:

> So there's a Greg rose parallel with Sadie and Lars. who do you think might be the pearl?

Thanks for the ask!  Sorry for taking so long to answer.  It gave me some food for thought.

I’m not really sure there  _is_ a Pearl, per se.  At least, not in the sense of a third person who pines after the Rose parallel (Lars). Sadie herself acted as the Pearl of the Rebellion to Lars’ Rose in the first season. It wasn’t until the second season that she started to develop into more of a Greg parallel.

But, let’s suppose there  _is_  a “pining Pearl” equivalent, or will be one.  Who then will be the Pearl?

I’m assuming that people are probably wondering if I think Emerald could be the Pearl parallel.  To which, I must say, NO.  No, I don’t think Emerald will be the Pearl.  Let’s ignore the fact that she currently wants Lars dead, because there’s always a chance for a redemption arc.  Even if she were to join his crew, she’s still a gem and I honestly doubt that the Pearl parallel will be a gem.  While Lars is now magic, _he’s still a human_ , so both his Greg and Pearl should probably be human as well.  

There’s Jenny, but I don’t see her becoming the Pearl parallel, either.  I don’t think it’d make sense for her to switch from being an Amethyst parallel to being one for Pearl, especially since there’s already a Cool Kid parallel for Pearl.  See, the Pearl/Greg parallel shift with Sadie made sense because both Pearl and Greg were in love with Rose and Sadie wasn’t one of the Cool Kids. 

Also, if we were to take the whole genderflip aspect of the parallel to its logical conclusion, then  **the theoretical Pearl would probably be a boy** , right? 

This might be why there hasn’t been a Pearl equivalent for Larsadie who pines for Lars.  The LGBT themes of the show are heavily downplayed with the humans.  For example, Lars and Sadie are both hinted to be bi/pan, but Sadie specifically takes issue with Lars hanging out with another girl in Joking Victim.  And Mr. Smiley has been confirmed to be gay, but we only know that because someone said it at a comic-con.  That being said, the writers might be able to at least imply that a teenage boy has a crush on another boy without setting off homophobic “moral guardians.”

The other possible reason for the lack of a Pearl might be  _timing_. As it so happens, we do have a boy Pearl parallel to Lars’ Rose parallel in the form of Sour Cream.  Perhaps he will develop hints of a crush on Lars and start sharing some mild parallels with Pearl from the days when Rose and Greg were first dating. 

Of course, he hasn’t been shown to be attracted to Lars or to be jealous over his relationship with Sadie, but that’s a given, and not just because of the aforementioned issues with how LGBT themes are done for the humans.  Remember, before his resurrection, Lars was the parallel of Rose’s  _ghost/memory_  to the Cool Kids’ CG parallel and Steven.  He basically embodied the confusion and grief the surviving Crystal Gems and Steven feel over Rose  _now_.  Now that Lars is a parallel for Rose when she was  _alive_ , the dynamic between him and the Cool Kids will probably shift dramatically if/when they cross paths again. 

> **Edit:** Wait, wait. No.  This is just... NO. Somehow I totally forgot that Sour Cream is canonically implied to be 3-4 years older than the donut kids. Lars and Sadie are both strongly suggested to be 17.  Note that when I say strongly suggested, I just mean Lars. He was able to drive back in Season 1 and it’s been over a year since then but not two, and he is still (somehow) in high school despite working everyday at the Big Donut and refers to himself as a teenager. These details place him fairly squarely at 17.  Sadie’s age was given in Sadie’s Song as “11+6,″ so there’s actually far less mystery regarding her age than Lars’.
> 
>  Sour Cream, however, is definitely a legal adult, being roughly 3 to 5 years older than the donut kids going by Greg’s flashback episodes (he’s losing his baby teeth in the photo in “Three Gems and a Baby,” making him about 6 or 7 at the time). He’s 20-21.  Young enough to still be called a “kid” by older folks by modern standards and also hang out with 18-19 year olds without just looking sad and pathetic, but also old enough to be a full-fledged adult by all legal standards.  Unless Lars and Sadie both hit 18 before Lars reaches Earth (and even then...), I’m gonna have to pass on the “SC with pirate thirst” idea.
> 
> We'll go with the idea of SC having a **platonic** crush on Lars, thank you very much.

But, like I said, I’m not sure there is a Pearl parallel to the Lars/Sadie and Rose/Greg relationship parallels, if it’s possible for there to be one, or even if there  _needs_ to be one, since Lars and Sadie are ultimately their own characters.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The edit regarding Sour Cream's age was added after this meta was originally posted.


	26. Singer & Rebel Followup: Why Ronaldo Isn’t The Pearl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think that would be a very bad narrative choice and perhaps the worst choice for a teen/CG parallel. I say this as someone who legitimately enjoys Ronaldo’s character and personal arc as it’s been developing thus far.

  **[mambocat](https://mambocat.tumblr.com/)**  replied to your post [“So there’s a Greg rose parallel with Sadie and Lars. who do you think…”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/167967337204/so-theres-a-greg-rose-parallel-with-sadie-and)

> ….Ronaldo? Lmao

I didn’t mention him because I don’t like the idea of Ronaldo being the Pearl to Lars and Sadie. I think that would be a very bad narrative choice and perhaps the  _worst_ choice for a teen/CG parallel. I say this as someone who legitimately enjoys Ronaldo’s character and personal arc as it’s been developing thus far.

What the Rose/Greg parallels seem to be about at their core is  **personal growth and development** for Lars and Sadie.  There’s some character arc overlap due to their relationship, leading to Grose parallels, but the fact that Lars and Sadie parallel Steven’s parents and their relationship occasionally parallels Grose doesn’t really have that much to do with whether their relationship will be endgame or not, though it certainly HEAVILY  _implies_ they will be endgame (howbeit in a way that looks to be likely bittersweet when you take Lars’ heavy parallels to Rose and how the off colors seem to be his version of Rose’s Earth to its logical conclusion).

This is why I’m not that keen on the idea of new character written to be the Pearl parallel being added into the mix or really any Pearl parallel.  Think about it: a Pearl for Lars’ Rose and Sadie’s Greg would be someone whose **personal character arc**  heavily revolves heavily around jealousy directed at these two, unhealthy self-destructive tendencies, and struggles with an ingrained sense of dependency.   Pearl’s own arc has been heavily about recovering from those unhealthy mentalities and how  _they’re bad_.  

On top of this,  **Lars and Sadie’s parallels with Rose and Greg are going in chronological reverse**  (except with their relationship apparently improving instead of growing more distant) so  _the arc of the Pearl parallel to match them, if they exist, will be moving backwards from Pearl’s as well_.  Which means the show would end very badly for them with them ending up enslaved and taken away.  Ronaldo doesn’t deserve that.

This is why I’m hoping that, if there  _has_ to be a Pearl parallel thrown into the mix, that it’ll be Sour Cream, since the Cool Kids parallel the CGs a  _lot_ more lightly than Sadie and Lars parallel Steven’s parents and are already involved in their parallel.  Meaning it’s perfectly believable for SC to develop a mild ( **platonic!** ) crush on Lars and just be mildly jealous of Lars’ relationship with Sadie and the off colors… and then just continue to have his own little character arc with his family and stepdad and the Cool Kids’ band. With any other teenager, I imagine the parallels being a little more intensive and involved than that.

Ronaldo already has his own character arc going on. He’s learning to listen better to people, be more empathetic, and to accept the world as is it.  I want to see him continue to grow into a more mature and considerate teenager, learn that he can be special just by being himself, and learn it’s okay that there’s things he doesn’t know or understand.  I want to see him continue to develop from someone who creates his own “truth” and convince himself of it so desperately thoroughly that he’d end up hurting himself and others (Keep Beach City Weird, Horror Club, Rocknaldo) to someone willing to listen and gain knowledge from the world around him and share  _that_  truth with others.  

He seems to be on the journey to learning that it’s okay if he’s  _just a normal person_  (just like Lars needed to learn it’s okay to  _not_ be normal, to be weird) instead of thinking he has to be in the center of something important or else he’s nothing. He’s learning how to connect with those around him as just himself: a mentally ill and quite possibly autistic insecure teen (Ronaldo might be the one teen somehow  ** _more_** insecure beneath it all than Lars) with an interest in anime, cars, tree-dwelling animals, and sci-fi/fantasy. Pearl is detached from humanity, though she’s getting better. The Pearl to Lars and Sadie would go in the opposite direction of this. Ronaldo growing to be  _less_ connected to other people is the  **last** thing his character arc needs.

In just three to four focus episodes, he’s gone from the incredibly wrong “sneople” theory and being quick to attempt to dissect first, ask questions later, to the considerably closer to the truth “rock people” theory, to accepting criticism when Steven tells him his theory is offensive to gems, to “hey! we need to give the Crystal Gems our support!”  

That may seem like such small and insignificant growth to the majority of fans, but  _consider_.  

Consider he’s only had three to four episodes focusing on him. 

Consider how  _freaked out_ he was when his sneople theory was debunked back in S1, and how well he deals and adapts when his theories are debunked later on. 

_Consider how Ronaldo being the Pearl to Lars’ Rose and Sadie’s Greg would undo or ignore all that growth._

Lastly, there’s no evidence of a Ronaldo/Pearl parallel.  The most obvious episode to set the parallel up was Horror Club. However, Ronaldo was implied to be attracted to Sadie (the Pearl in Season 1), flirted with her, and even tried asking her out.  Lars (the Rose) was agitated at this. This doesn’t fit an idea of Ronnie being the Pearl of their relationship.  In the same episode, it was shown that Ronaldo resented Lars deeply for ending their friendship.  Pearl doesn’t resent Rose. Rose broke her heart, but Pearl remained and remains a dedicated friend, admirer, and follower of her.  Nothing in the episode supports the idea of Ronaldo being Pearl.  If anything, it seems rather contrary to the idea. 


	27. "Is Lars Going Evil?!" Followup: All (Or Nothing) Of It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beach City is a magic hot zone where corrupted gems wreak havoc on a regular basis. That a mentally ill teenager living in this sort of environment would develop this messed up black-and-white mentality that he should be brave and heroic otherwise he’s worthless scum and a bad person who doesn’t deserve happiness (or life) is sadly understandable. (Followup to "Is Lars Going Evil?!")

**[monobrobe](http://monobrobe.tumblr.com/)** replied to your post [““Is Lars Turning Evil?!””](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/164482867224/is-lars-turning-evil)

> Wow holy crap, there are some points here I never even considered that paint Lars in a completely new light. The idea that he HAS to be brave and self-sacrificing if he wants to be someone who deserved being brought back to life… just, wow. And the idea that being anything but makes him unworthy…

It sounds like he might be splitting. We’ve seen him show that sort of mentality when it comes to the idea of “cool vs lame.”  You know, the idea that a thing is either cool or lame with nothing in-between.  That sort of internalized black-and-white thinking makes sense coming from a canonically mentally ill teenager (” _I'm a complex individual teenage boy_ ”). Splitting is a symptom of several mental disorders, notably depression and BPD, both of which Lars shows symptoms of.  It’s especially common in adolescences. 

Beach City is a magic hot zone where corrupted gems wreak havoc on a regular basis. The world around the town’s fragile human citizens is chock full of deadly horrors they could stumble upon (such as the magic moss). Lars _grew up_ in that sort of environment. That a mentally ill teenager living in this sort of environment would develop this messed up mentality that he should be brave and heroic otherwise he’s worthless scum and a bad person who doesn’t deserve happiness (or life) is sadly understandable.

But the bigger question is this: **How long has Lars felt this way?**  There’s no indication that the idea that bravery = worthy/good and cowardice = worthless/bad is something Lars just started thinking during Wanted out of the blue. 

In fact, _all_ his past appearances and actions are cast in a different light when viewed with that mentality toward heroism, the implication of splitting, and his admiration/jealousy toward Steven in mind. 

They make a lot more sense.  

For example, it was common to assume the reason why Lars picks on only Steven in season 1 is because he’s just a jerk and really immature (which S1 Lars is, but not “just”) or too big a cowardly jerk to pick on anyone else.  Now I can’t help noticing that Lars mocks Steven’s magic and kind openly heroic nature toward everyone regardless of how well he knows them  _specifically_.  I think Lars targets those traits because they remind him of how weak and cowardly he is and because he has always envied Steven for them even back then.

His jealousy of Steven is more obvious in The Pilot.

> STEVEN: They’re Crystal Gems and they save the world, like all the time.
> 
> (Lars keeps smirking)
> 
> STEVEN:  And I’m a Crystal Gem too.
> 
> **(Lars’ face falls)**

Lars harboring a belief that he’s worthless because he’s too scared to help people due to his anxiety casts his role in the wrestling episodes in a new light as well.  I liked those episodes, but I’ll admit I didn’t quite understand Lars’ part in them at all.

I was especially confused by the ending ofTiger Philanthropist.  Lars dislikes Tiger P. because he’s a heel fan and the new Tiger is too different from Tiger Millionaire, but gets over it in the end without explanation because... funny?  However, while my first assessment might still be accurate to an extent, I think that it's more because Tiger M. caring about _something_ (his money) and watching Purple Puma’s back acted as a catharsis for Lars, who put up a wall of not caring to protect himself (and try to deflect people from trying to help him, because he feels _he doesn’t “deserve it”_ (Lars' Head)).

Even though Tiger M. looked weak and pathetic ( _"That little guy's gonna get creamed"_ ), he used quick thinking to help the stronger Purple Puma out and defeat their opponents.  Like Steven, he was basically what Lars wished he could be, but “bad” and therefore someone that Lars could admire without ending up feeling a little resentful and hating himself a little more for being, well, “bad.”   

Unlike Tiger M., Tiger Philanthropist was unbeatable, not fighting for anything or anyone, and _didn’t care about anything_ , not even his money.   **Lars couldn’t relate**. So he disliked and found him boring as a wrestler.  The reason why Lars had a change of heart in the end was because Tiger P. _gained_ something to cared about and a reason to fight in his final match when Purple Puma returned and they reconciled.

And the reason why Lars couldn’t accept that Steven was Tiger Millionaire was because he secretly envies Steven as a fearless and sweet all-loving hero and can’t imagine him being a wrestler, let alone playing a heel.  He was unable to reconcile the two concepts together due to the same sort of black-and-white thinking that he directs at himself.

This harbored mentality would also effect how he views other people besides Steven and himself, too.  That may explain why he never quite figured out that Cool Kids were good non-judgmental people, despite hanging around them a lot for  _almost two years_  and them being mostly really nice to him and everybody else.  As Sadie said, _he never really gave **them** a chance_.  He always felt pressured to act the way he thought “cool” teenagers were supposed to act and never broke out of the mentality that he had to agree with them on everything no matter how poorly this went.

Arguably, splitting could also be part of the reason Lars had such a terrible attitude during Horror Club. Throughout much of the episode, he almost seems to be  _trying_ to pass as an antagonist and is extra aggressive toward everyone.  He acts out like he’s never done before nor since.  We know he harbors a lot of inner turmoil over his fallout with Ronaldo throughout the episode and is scared of Sadie and Steven finding out they used to be friends, but his attitude seems a bit extra even for that. 

Factor in his black-and-white thinking and how Lars is surrounded throughout the episode by people who agitate this internalized view of himself being a worthless person who doesn’t deserve help and either don’t get this and keep trying to help him or, in Ronaldo’s case, see him as the bad person he “really is” and doesn’t want people to see, and suddenly Lars’ antagonistic attitude throughout the episode and how it gradually worsens as the episode’s cast appears makes a lot more sense.

In other words, while Wanted may have first shed light on this aspect of his character, it seems Lars has felt this way for a very, very long time.


	28. Will Topaz or Lapis Join The Off Colors?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: Do you think Lars is going to be the one who will convince Topaz to rebel? Also what are your thoughts about the theory that Lars will meet Lapis in the upcoming episodes?

**Anonymous** asked:

> Do you think Lars is going to be the one who will convince Topaz to rebel? Also what are your thoughts about the theory that Lars will meet Lapis in the upcoming episodes?

Considering Topaz momentarily rebelled in Stuck Together, but only stopped out of fear of being separated and shattered (note that the escape pod had been destroyed, trapping her and the humans she wanted to help on a course to Homeworld), I don’t think the off colors _need_ to convince her to rebel.  They just need to give her courage and offer her sanctuary in their little group.

She wanted and tried to save Steven and Lars back in Stuck Together, so I think she would be willing to ally herself with Lars if they cross paths again and he encouraged her.  His bond with the off colors may move her into action like his friendship moment with Steven.

As for Lars meeting Lapis in the upcoming episodes, I’m mostly neutral.  It depends on what you mean by upcoming episodes.  

If we’re talking Stranded, like I’ve heard some people theorize about Stevonnie finding Lapis in Jungle Moon, I think it would actually be a poor writing choice to have her show up.

Given what’s going on with Lars, him unexpectedly showing up all badass space pirate captain and all, I think he and Stevonnie should be the focus of the two-episode event.  The cast and viewers both need to assess what the hell is going on and adjust to the new captain, and hopefully get some answers.  Right now is perhaps the _worst_ sort oftime for a show to bring in another major character in as a third party with their own personal baggage and drama.


	29. Sorrowful Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The names picked for the Barriga family fit their last name meaning “belly,” as the bowels are sensitive to emotions and were once believed to be where they came from, but they are all rather sad and morbid.

Apparently, the naming theme for the Barrigas is SADNESS.

Martha? One of the meanings is sorrow.  

Dante? Means enduring, steadfast.

Laramie? Means tears of love, which sounds sweet and romantic and the most optimistic of these names… but then was revealed to be most likely referring to Steven’s tears of  _grief_ over Lars’ death (and his resulting resurrection).

So we have sorrow, enduring (e.g., enduring hardships), and grief. 

The naming theme kinda fits with their last name meaning “belly,” as the bowels are sensitive to emotions and were once believed to be where they came from, but these are all rather gloomy names.

Barrigas, ARE YOU OKAY?

* * *

 

 **[ricardoreviews](http://ricardoreviews.tumblr.com/) ** replied to your post [“Apparently, the naming theme for the Barrigas is SADNESS. Martha? One…”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168702602254/apparently-the-naming-theme-for-the-barrigas-is)

> Add to that Martha is the name of a saint and Dante is also probably named after  **the poet who made The Divine Comedy**  The Barrigas have surprisingly morbid names.

**[ricardoreviews](http://ricardoreviews.tumblr.com/)**  replied to your post [“Apparently, the naming theme for the Barrigas is SADNESS. Martha? One…”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/168702602254/apparently-the-naming-theme-for-the-barrigas-is)

> **Martha was also the name of Lazarus’s sister**

Wait, so the  _ **whole Barriga family**_  was named to foreshadow Lars’ resurrection?  How… HOW DID I NOT CATCH THAT?

I have no idea why I didn’t make these connections with their names.  Martha, the sister of Lazarus.  Dante, the author of a poem about him traveling through the afterlife while still a living man (and reaching enlightenment through the journey).

Sadness _isn’t_  their naming theme.  It’s literal (Martha) and symbolic (Dante)  **death and resurrection**.  Of  _course_ they have rather sad names.

Considering how heavy-handed the foreshadowing and allusions to Lars’ eventual fate tends to be elsewhere on the show,  I don’t know what I expected.


	30. Stevonnie's Shuttle Origin Speculation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did the Crystal Gems build Stevonnie's ship or did the off-colors put it together? Personally, I think there is a perfectly reasonable third option.

  **Anonymous** asked:

> There's a theory going around that Pearl and Peridot made the ship Stevonnie is piloting in Standed, seeing as there is a PRNDL in their vehicle, plus Homeworld doesn't use English as there language, whats your take on that. I'm more learning towards that the Off Colors and Lars designed that ship, seeing as the Crystal Gems have history of not taking action unless threats comes to them.

Yeah, like you said, it’s unlikely that the Crystal Gems built it.  If they could build a fully functional spaceship that easily, _they would’ve done it a long time ago_.  And it’s even more doubtful that they would have the technology to build a little DBZ-style spacecraft “pod” that can be carried in Connie’s backback and expanded when needed.

However, I’m also skeptical of the idea that the pirates designed the ship.  Where did they get the parts, tools, and equipment to put it all together?  How did they manage to sneak past sixty-seven guards unnoticed while carrying a small spacecraft and why would they even do that, given that the craft has been shown to be  _way_ too small and cramped inside to possibly carry all of them?  Also they had just pulled off that particular heist, so it’s unlikely that they could’ve built it between that and the start of the episode.

Personally, I’m going to take the third option: **i** **t’s just a Homeworld ship.**   

While there  _is_ an old gem alphabet (that appears to be written entirely in cursive), all gems shown so far seem to have knowledge of the Latin alphabet and the English language regardless of how long they’ve been on Earth.  Steven also had never seen the gem alphabet until Centi used it, despite having seen gem tech and gem files several times before that point (and also helping Peridot prepare an apology note to Lapis).  It’s possible that in this universe, the Latin Alphabet  _came_ from Homeworld and is used on their ships as a form of short-hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post-Stranded Addition: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


	31. Help Not Wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s okay for characters to have flaws. In fact, they’re supposed to have flaws. It’s part of what makes them human and relatable to the audience. And Steven's biggest flaw in the series is perhaps how he can be a really bad meddlesome friend at times, especially in regards to his dealings with the Beach City citizens.

**anonymous** asked:

> Steven's biggest character flaws?

Sorry for taking an obscene amount of time to post this.  I had computer issues with both my desktop  _and_ my laptop that had to be fixed before I could properly work on this.

First of all, given the nature of fandom to be either overly critical or unreasonably defensive, I should probably start by reminding everyone that it’s  _okay_ for characters to have flaws.  In fact, they’re  _supposed_ to have flaws.  It’s part of what makes them human and relatable to the audience.  No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes,  ** _and that’s okay_**.  What matters is that people strive as best they can to be a better person than they were yesterday.

Though this is a discussion of what I feel to be Steven’s biggest flaws on the show, I hope that this analysis manages to still be mostly SU and Steven-positive (or at the very least SU/Steven-sympathetic). 

In my opinion,  Steven’s biggest flaws can be narrowed down to him being a rather poor friend at times, especially in regards to his dealings with the Beach City citizens (Lars being the most obvious example of this).

He has a really bad habit of meddling in the affairs of others without asking and “helping” people while disregarding how they feel about it or asking them what’s wrong.  The worst example of this is how Steven didn’t even bother to directly  _ask_ Lars what his problem is and why he’s always acting like such a jerk until  **Season 5**.  This allowed him to truly help Lars at last, but by that point it looked  _too late_  for the troubled older teen to make amends with his loved ones back on Earth, resulting in him slipping into a severe depression and feeling like he deserved to die (and stay dead).  Hopefully, Lars has recovered some since Wanted, but we won’t really know until at least Stranded.  It’s very likely most, if not all, of the pain he went through in Wanted, perhaps even most of the series, could’ve been avoided if Steven had confronted him about his bad attitude and asked him before they got dragged to Homeworld.

Steven also has an unfortunate habit of picking between two friends without really thinking through the situation at hand on several occasions, as seen both in Horror Club and Dewey Wins (and technically Joking Victim, where he should’ve helped Sadie calm down and then confront Lars with her over the issue instead of encouraging her to hurt Lars to make herself feel better). Lastly, he has a tendency to bottle things up inside and act like everything is fine when it isn’t, which has led to him hurting his friends in other ways, as seen in Dewey Wins when he made light of the trauma his attempted heroic sacrifice and abduction to Homeworld put his family and friends through.

His habit of failing to ask questions (and to persist with them on the rare occasions he does) about gem stuff is something many people have complained about, but it’s honestly a bit more frustrating to me that he doesn’t ask people about their problems, why they’re hurting or lashing out, or if he can do anything to help.  The reason being that  _Steven Universe_  is ultimately a slice-of-life series focusing on things like relationships and character growth. and unfortunately these flaws are ones that the show tends to  _rely_ on (mostly due to the show being 99.9% all in Steven’s perspective) for most Beach City plots, which results in the show presenting really terrible “helper” behavior as acceptable and good.

That’s not to say the show  _always_ relies on these flaws to push a plot, but it does use them a bit more than I’d like.  A good example of an episode where most of these flaws don’t come into play and Steven is a truly helpful friend would be Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service, which I feel is a bit of an underrated episode.  In that particular episode, while Steven accidentally enters Kiki’s dreams early in the episode, he apologizes as soon as he finds out he did and says he won’t do it again.  Kiki reassures him that she’s not mad and then  _asks_ him directly to help her with some bad dreams.

The conflict of the episode isn’t created by Steven not considering her feelings, but rather by Kiki sincerely not knowing  _why_ she’s having the bad dreams and then her reluctance to fix things out of love for her sister.  She does end up overworking Steven, but when she realizes this, she acknowledges that she asked too much of him and accepts it when he says he can’t help her much longer.

Steven also takes into consideration how  _Jenny_ would feel about the whole thing.  He doesn’t choose to help one friend at the expense of another.

> STEVEN:  And [Jenny] cares about you, too! Do you think she’d want to put you through this? 
> 
> KIKI: No. 
> 
> STEVEN: Does she even know this is happening to you? 
> 
> KIKI: No. 
> 
> STEVEN: You got to tell her! 

I really wish more Beach City episodes followed this formula instead of relying so much on Steven being something of a meddler with only a hazy idea of what’s going on with his friends, but sadly it is what it is.

However, I also don’t think we should be hard on Steven for having these flaws. I mean, he’s _just a kid_. I think that’s where these flaws come from: him being an innocent and childish young teen who’s never really felt the pressure to grow up because he still looks like a small child.  He wants to help people, which is a good trait to have, but he’s not yet at the point where he understands that sometimes helping means just lending an ear to others.  It can even mean doing  _nothing_  and trusting your friends to work things out on their own.

Then again, the fact that he probably could’ve helped Lars before he reached the point where he explicitly believed himself to be someone who _deserved to die and stay dead_  still places these flaws at the very top of my list of “flaws I would really rather Steven just grew out of already.”  I hope the show will eventually let him.  It would be nice if we started getting more episodes where the plot works with his perspective in ways that aren’t as forced or questionable as they have been in the past (The New Lars being the absolute worst offender in this regard).


	32. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, it's likely that everything is going to hurt when Lars gets home and I’m not sure how things will work out in the end.

**anonymous** asked:

> Something that I really want to happen when Lars and the off colors return to Earth is see them interact with the people of beach city(especially Ronaldo ,Sadie and the cool kids) ,how do you think they will react when they see the new Lars and how do you think that Lars will act aroud them with his new found confidence?

Warning: My answer is a bit of a downer.  Sorry. :(

Lars _is_ shown to be confident in battle, but I’m not too sure he’s confident in social situations.  Last he was on Earth, his relationships with everyone except Steven were pretty much going down the drain, even the one he has with Sadie from his perspective, since he ran away when she needed him.  She understood he was scared and was only disappointed in him, but Lars wouldn’t know that. He wasn’t in a position to see the look on her face.

Chances are, Lars will also struggle with going back to old bad habits.  He changed for the better in space, but his life in space is _drastically_ different from what he had on Earth so slipping back into old habits would probably be sadly easy compared to what it would’ve been had his growth taken place on Earth instead of space.  I imagine him being really frustrated with this.  Like “Why am I being so pathetic? Why is this so hard for me? I thought I changed.”

On top of this, **he’s at _very_ high risk for developing PTSD**.  Captain Lars is a badass, but the show has been fairly realistic about how being involved in conflicts, especially over a long period of time, affects a person’s mind.  There’s a leak regarding Lars of the Stars that has so far been accurate (as some rather specific details from the leaks were shown to be correct in the promo) that if 100% true would strongly suggest that, yes, he will in all likelihood develop post-traumatic stress from his time in space once he returns to Earth, not just from constantly being in danger and struggling to survive for at least a month, but also the choices he had to make in order to survive.

Beach City has changed a great deal from when he’s been there too.  Sadie no longer works at the Big Donut with him, so he’ll probably have to spend some time there working long shifts like she did in Sadie Killer unless another employee was hired between Sadie Killer and his return, and there’s a new Mayor.  The long shifts probably won’t be all that exhausting to him, since he has supernatural stamina, but it would be very tedious and lonely.

Then there’s the fact that nobody knew he would be coming back or even _could_ come back. Worse, few cared that he was gone except for his parents and Sadie.  While it would probably be expected to him, given his self-loathing issues, that’d still hurt, especially considering the _Cool Kids_ were among those who practically forgot about him straight away.

Another thing to think about is his new color.  Something I’ve noticed is that his uniform covers all the pink from his perspective.  Lars _hated_ being pink in Wanted.  He consistently showed clear signs of distress over his new color.  And then there’s this:

> STEVEN: What do you mean… off-color?
> 
> RUTILE: You know, wrong. Not right. Flawed. 
> 
> - _Off Colors_

> FLUORITE: [oc] Besides, us off colors stick together.
> 
> _\- Lars’ Head_

Due to the definition given for off-color and the expression he gives looking at his hands, it seems very likely that he views his altered body as being wrong.

Being pink has probably been easy for Lars to avoid thinking about while he’s up there in space.  On Earth though, he’s going to have to wear normal clothes and see his new appearance in mirrors, things implied to not be exactly common in space as shown when Peridot was fascinated by her reflection in Catch and Release.

Lars also hasn’t had to really deal with constant reminders about how _inhuman_ he is now.  I mean, on some level he would, but he hasn’t been around other humans since Steven.  He doesn’t need sustenance, he very likely doesn’t even need sleep anymore, and the possibility of him aging like a regular human is extremely low.  He will have to deal with this once he’s on Earth and surrounded by regular humans who all need sustenance, sleep, have natural skin colors, and are aging normally.

So (former) Captain Lars will probably not be a very pleasant person to be around.  The fandom majority will probably be more forgiving of him this time around, since it would be more obvious what’s going on with him, but it would still not be very fun to watch.

As for how other people will react to him, if The New Lars has told us anything, it’s that Sadie will probably be a little distrustful of Captain Lars.  She might even find herself being belatedly angry with him.  His parents would hopefully be a bit protective of him (though this would make things even more difficult for him to readjust to Earth), but also really proud of him.  Hopefully.

The Cool Kids will probably be confused and unsure what to make of this Lars.  Especially since the last time he was so different it was because Steven was possessing him.  Things will probably be a little weird between them.  

Ronaldo… hm, honestly I have no idea how he’d react. He wouldn’t think Lars is a rock person since Steven called him out on that theory.  He might be a little miffed that Lars was “chosen” and given “gem powers.”  That won’t be very fun, considering where those powers came from.  Or Ronaldo might think something silly like Lars is a brain eating zombie who just acts like a normal person (well, mostly normal) to fool people into getting close to him and not really interact with him.  Hopefully this isn’t the case and they’ll interact some, but right now I’m not all that optimistic about it. 

Basically, everything is probably going to hurt when Lars gets home and I’m not sure how things will work out in the end.  (Edit: well, there are rumors, leaks from sources that have so far been shown to be reliable, regarding how it all works out after  he returns to Earth, but I would rather keep a lid on that, both in case they’re right and in case they’re wrong).


	33. Cold Tactics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As cold as it sounds, sending their “guest member” Stevonnie to take out Emerald’s weapons does make tactical sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First part is a bit outdated. Forgot to post it yesterday. Since then we've gotten leaks that answered some of these questions.

[mambocat](https://mambocat.tumblr.com/post/169097675249/oh-gawd-im-starting-to-get-nervous-feelings-about) posted:

> Oh gawd I’m starting to get nervous feelings about Lars of the Stars. It’s been hyped for so long and suddenly everyone loves Lars cause he’s Pink and Magical now… oh gawd…be nice to him Crewniverse! *bites nails*

Same.  I mean, I  _am_ excited, but at the same time I’m a little scared.

What if it doesn’t meet expectations?

What if the fandom gets split between defending and attacking Lars for his actions in the episode?  Especially since Stevonnie gets separated from him and stranded for seemingly weeks?  What if people go back to hating Lars?? 

I can already imagine him getting a lot of flack in the fandom for “abandoning” Stevonnie.  Hopefully, Jungle Moon will end with them reunited and Lars will give them a big hug and make it clear that he didn’t mean to leave them behind and has been looking for them all this time (after shaking Emerald off his trail for a bit?).

* * *

 **Anonymous** asked:

> Read your last post about when Stevonnie gets stranded on that planet for days, I dont think the fandom have any right to blame Lars. Steven and Connie both visited Lars from their own free will. If they had wanted to avoid the incident they could have just went back through Lars head. Plus Steven basically did the same thing to Lars by leaving him on Homeworld for like six episodes.

You’re mostly right, in that Steven and Connie are helping Lars of their own free will, but remember Lars is also the one letting them take such dangerous risks, though for what I suspect are for understandable reasons. 

As cold as it sounds, sending their “guest member” Stevonnie to take out Emerald’s weapons does make tactical sense. The Rutile twins are pilots, but they are the ones piloting the Sun Incinerator.  They can’t leave their post.  Same with everyone else in Lars’ crew, for that matter.  Even if Stevonnie could temporarily take their place so the twins can fight instead, Lars can’t risk losing the twins.  If something were to happen to them, they can’t be replaced.  Stevonnie will eventually have to return to Earth and the off-colors would be left without a pilot.  Besides, Stevonnie has their bubble shield so they would actually be considerably  _safer_ than the twins would be if they were sent up against Emerald instead.

I think Captain Lars is sincerely just trying to do the best he can as a leader.  He made a miscalculation, but considering nobody dies or gets captured (presumably), I would argue that he ultimately made the right call, even though his plans (whatever they may have been) didn’t go without a hitch.  I don’t really see the fandom thinking this through, though.  People here tend to like to condemn first, ask questions NEVER. 

I don’t get the interpretation that Steven essentially abandoned Lars by not visiting him or trying to visit him between Wanted and Stranded.  Lars was the one who insisted he return to Earth.  I think the reason why Steven wasn’t rushing to come back after Wanted was because he wanted to respect Lars’ wishes, especially after the whole little “ _let me be somebody who deserved it_ ” speech.  I don’t think he was meaning to ignore or neglect Lars, and he had no idea the off-colors and Lars wouldn’t still be in the Homeworld Kindergarten.


	34. The Ill Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who writes off Captain Lars for his breakdown will get very stern looks from me.

  **blogspidermonkey27** asked:

> TBH I wouldn't really blame Lars for his sudden outburst. The way Steven delivered it made it sound as if she moved on from him. And how was he suppose to know she started a friendship with the Cool Kids, before he was abducted Sadie wanted nothing to do with them, so that's probably why he was weirded out.

Agreed.  Anyone who writes off Captain Lars for his breakdown will get _very_ stern looks from me.  He has been all but outright stated to have anxiety, shown to struggle with depression _,_  and is known to be a bit paranoid.  Nothing he did was unbelievable or out-of-character.   In fact, before the episode aired, I predicted that the reason why he was crying in the one leaked screenshot would be something like this.

I’m glad to see he wasn’t completely magically cured of his mental illness(es), but at the same time it was really heartbreaking seeing his insecurity, paranoia, and lack of self-worth rear up and break him down like that, and I was honestly hoping I’d be wrong because I wanted there to be at least one episode where the poor kid got to be happy.

Also I wouldn’t describe him as “weirded out” by Sadie hanging out with the Cool Kids so much as betrayed, devastated, and completely crushed, or that Steven made it sound like she “moved on from him” so much as “she’s glad you’re out of her life, Lars, and she really doesn’t care that you died.”


	35. The Fandom's Fatal Flaw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, the fact that Lars, one of the most broken characters on the show, has gotten a lot of hate over the years for being an insecure walking teenage disaster is completely unsurprising, given the nature of the fandom.

  **mikumari** asked:

> I'm honestly dreading when Lars gets back to Earth. The SU fandom has REPEATEDLY proven themselves incapable of handling a character behaving badly, no matter how understandable and/or realistic the context. Lars even got some of the worst of the bashing until this past year, and I'd really rather not go back to those days.

Agreed.  That’s why I personally  _dreaded_ Lars’ next appearance after Wanted (especially after the Lars Of The Stars promo).  Because of how fast the fandom took to him after Off Colors and Lars’ Head, I figured something would happen and he’d plummet back into “most hated character on the show” territory.  Characters fall into the heap pile far more easily than they crawl out of it.  They tend to fall right back in even if they do manage to escape (and it often seems that the faster they escape, the faster they fall back in).  

To make things worse, SU has one of the most disgustingly ableist fandoms I’ve ever seen.  Aside from how the fandom treats _blatant red warning signs_  for positive character development, there’s how the most divisive characters on the show tend to be very VERY heavily mentally ill coded or even outright described as having a mental illness by the crew with their divisive characteristics almost invariably being behaviors associated with their implied (or canon) mental condition.   Many fans even still bash Steven and Connie ( _TWO TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN_ ) for their actions between Wanted and Stranded despite the show depicting both in a sympathetic light and explaining what they did wrong and why.  So, sadly, the fact that Lars, one of the most  _broken_ characters on the show, has gotten a lot of hate over the years for being an insecure walking teenage disaster is completely unsurprising.  That he will continue to get some hate whenever he acts as an insecure mentally ill teenager  _would_ act is pretty much a foregone conclusion, since why should the fandom treat him any different from the rest of the cast? 

Fortunately, while he’s gotten some hate after LotS, he hasn’t gotten  _nearly_ as much as he used to and still has a sizable fanbase.  Since the episode didn’t result in him being shoved immediately back into the scrappy heap, he looks to be officially in the clear (well, at least for now).  Especially given that the show has thrown Lars’ character arc into overdrive now and he even has his own distinct leitmotif now after being on the show since the pilot, I think the fans will probably “only” hate him to the same degree they do the rest of the main cast (because let’s face it,  _every_ major character on SU is a huge base-breaker where fans passionately either love them or hate them).

 


	36. Unpopular Opinion: Lars' Crisis Shows His Growth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I love how people are defending Lars’ breakdown in LotS and all, but are we really going to ignore how that scene showed how much more comfortable he’s become in admitting how he really feels?

Okay, I love how people are defending Lars’ breakdown in LotS and all, but are we really going to ignore how that scene showed how much more comfortable he’s become in admitting how he really feels?

Yes, it wasn’t ideal – his assumptions were really sad, stemming from his anxiety and low self-esteem, and it was honestly scary how completely unaware of his surroundings he became (he didn’t even realize the ship was in trouble until after he snapped out of it!) – but let’s not forget that Lars openly cried (harder than we’ve  _ever_ seen him cry) and vocalized his fears and hurt feelings and why he felt that way without needing to be heavily prodded and coaxed. He let himself be  _totally open, honest, and vulnerable_ during a personal crisis, even with someone he’s not familiar with around.  He used to not do this.  He used to bottle everything up and just put on an uncaring jerkass facade to deal with his insecurities, even around his closest friends and  _especially_ around those he wasn’t close to.

Lars Of The Stars shows that Captain Lars is still a very sensitive and insecure teenage boy underneath it all, but it also proves that he really has come a long way since Island Adventure, where he only opened up when he was both at his lowest point and thinking he was having a private moment with Sadie (and quickly bottled everything back up again after realizing it wasn’t private at all).  Or even the more recent  _Stuck Together_ , where his openness was pushed forward by stress, complete helplessness, and the belief that he was almost certainly going to die soon.  As with Sadie in Island Adventure, Lars believed it was a private moment between him and Steven (he initially thought Topaz couldn’t hear them).  Also, he couldn’t just tell him off and storm away, being literally trapped in Topaz’s body.

This time, Lars was some place he felt (at that moment) safe, not trapped in a stressful and seemingly hopeless situation, and surrounded by people. And he still  _very openly_  expressed his sadness and belief that Sadie  _hates_ him and is trying to hurt him the moment he started thinking that way.  And because he didn’t clam up, his personal crisis only lasted two minutes instead of what could’ve been days or weeks (or, worse,  _months_ ).

I am so, so proud of him.


	37. Shortcomings Beyond Reproach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The actions of Captain Lars, Steven, and Connie don’t need to be justified. None of the kids did anything wrong.

**anonymous** asked:

> If were gonna be real here Lars action in Lars of the Stars were clearly justified. If anything Steven basically downplayed Lars entire death to his parents, and Sadie which is probably why he was so shocked when he learned Sadie was able to move on so fast, which I presume is only a few weeks since Lars death. And who are Steven and Connie to lecture Lars at being a good friend when both were treating one another horribly for six straight episodes.

None. Of the kids. Did anything. Wrong.

Lars’ actions don’t  _need_ to be justified.  Remember, he went through something very similar in The New Lars.  Going through something that would be very traumatic in reality and finding out that no one noticed or cared and actually preferred it when he wasn’t there.  A comparison can certainly be drawn between the two episodes:

**_The New Lars_ **

> LARS:  I was acting weird all day and you all just LIKED IT?!
> 
> –
> 
> LARS: Maybe that’s why everyone liked the You me better than the Real me.
> 
> STEVEN: Not everyone.
> 
> SADIE [smiling at Lars]: It’s good to see the real you.

**_Lars of the Stars_ **

> LARS [dismayed]: [Sadie] looks… really happy…. Without me.
> 
> –
> 
> LARS [enraged, oblivious to his surroundings]: How is she having such a good time without me?! Does she even know I died out here?!

Yes, I blame his experience in “The New Lars” almost entirely for his reaction to Sadie looking more happy than he’s probably ever seen her be without him.  He’s been anxious, probably scared, to find out how Sadie feels about him and how things will go when they meet again, so seeing her being that happy without him (happier than she’d ever been shown to be on the show) may have triggered some very bad memories.

Note how Lars didn’t even realize the ship was in danger, despite all the warning signs and everyone calling to him, until after he came to his senses.

> RHODONITE: It’s here. An imperial warship has just caught up to us.
> 
> LARS: What?

Lars was so devastated by the idea that Sadie now hates him, happy he’s gone, and punishing him by taking any hope of getting in with the Cool Kids from him that he straight-up  _dissociated from reality_.  This isn’t normal for childish tantrums, nor is this degree of dissociation typical for heartbreak.  This is a chilling reminder that, **while Captain Lars is a badass, he’s also a traumatized mentally ill boy.**   I doubt enough time has passed between The New Lars and Stranded for Lars to be confirmed as having PTSD from the time Steven possessed him and nobody cared that he was acting weird, but the degree at which he disconnected from reality when believing he was facing a similar situation suggests he has a _trauma trigger_  at the very least.

Lars is insecure, suffers from depression and an anxiety disorder, has a sense of self-worth that’s so bad that Wanted revealed he believes  _he doesn’t deserve to live_ for everything he did on Earth (acting like an uncaring standoffish jerk, being inconsiderate, never being there for Sadie out of cowardice, etc) and has to work to deserve his second chance at life.  Which makes his assumption that Sadie must be happy he’s gone and punishing him for “everything he’d done” despite knowing he died, and his consequent breakdown all the more heartbreaking.

In his mind, of course Sadie must be so much happier because he’s gone. Of course she must be hang out with the Cool Kids that he’d struggled for over a year to fit in with just to get even with him.  In his eyes, she’d probably be perfectly justified in doing so, since it’s “what he deserves,” but it isn’t what he  _wants_ , which is to be forgiven and given a chance to make things right with her.

Quite frankly, I were in his shoes and heard that my best friend and crush, who I’d abandoned last time I saw them due to a panic attack and have been struggling with remorse over for months while constantly struggling to survive and get back home, became really happy – once again,  _more happy than I’d ever seen them_  – after I was abducted and  _killed_ in space, and even started hanging out with this group they’d shown no interest in but I’d struggled to be in with for years without much success, I’d assume the worst and break down crying too.

As for Steven and Connie,their actions don’t need to be justified either.  They didn’t lecture him on how to be a good friend. While Steven briefly got frustrated with Lars, he and Connie quickly explained things and  _comforted_ him once they realized why he was upset and crying. Steven was inconsiderate to assume Lars only wanted to hear how well Sadie was doing, but he’s always had some difficulty in realizing that what he’d want to hear isn’t always what others need to hear.  This has created many problems in the past and is nothing new.  

It doesn’t matter how Steven told Sadie and Lars’ parents about his death, because it doesn’t change the fact that Lars  _died_.  The only reason Sadie was able to pull herself together so quickly was most likely because she knew Lars had been brought back to life.  Hearing what happened to him is almost certainly part of the reason why she decided to quit her dead-end job, pursue her own dreams, and try to enjoy life to its fullest.  Because she’s become aware of how fleeting life can be.  Sadie’s choices and the happiness she’s found in her new band has nothing to do with  _how_ Steven broke the news to her. 

As for their actions prior to Stranded, Steven and Connie had both just suffered through a traumatic experience and were both doing what they could to deal with it.  Steven did  **nothing** to Connie except try to talk to her after blowing off her emotional hurt and trauma because he was trying to cope with a series of traumatic experiences he put himself and, unintentionally, his loved ones through by pretending it was no big deal.

Connie did  **nothing** to Steven except not talk to him because she needed time away from him and had  _never_ experienced that sort of situation before where she’s upset, shaken, and needs time away from a friend. She didn’t know what to do or how to handle the situation.  She didn’t steal Lion from him either. Lion does whatever he wants to do and he wanted to be with Connie.

Yes, Steven and Connie’s actions did hurt each other, but neither of them were acting out of malice.  There wasn’t any intent to hurt each other in their actions. That’s the entire point of the LotS relationship lesson about how best friends would never do anything to hurt each other.  That is, do things to hurt each other on purpose; which is actually a very good lesson.  **If your “bestie” hurts you to get back at you or “put you in your place,” then they’re not your best friend.**   This is why Steven and Connie  _had_ to be the ones to talk about this with Lars.  They were the ones that spent the last six episodes learning that very lesson.

My only issue with Lars being the one to receive this lesson is that Sadie  _has_ admittedly done things to intentionally hurt him.  Otherwise, I did think it was nice that Lars Of The Stars drew direct attention to the fact that, while Lars screws up and sometimes hurts his friends unintentionally, he doesn’t hurt them on purpose.

 


	38. Lars' Hero Frontier Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It says a lot about a person when their very first act after finally coming to grips with their fear is to risk a (seemingly certain) violent gruesome death to save someone they basically just met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a really old meta that I somehow skipped posting here.

**1.**

I just realized that Lars rushing in to draw the Robonoids (and potentially their fire) to him to save the Rutile twins can be read as a bizarrely late af establishing  character moment (well… his “Hero’s Frontier Step” in any case)

Like, you can debate whether or not Lars knew stabbing the Robonoid would cause a deadly explosion (actually pretty sure he did, but let's not change the subject), but it was pretty obvious from the dialogue and his expressions that he thought he was going to die when he saved the twins.

It says a lot about a person when their  ** _very first act_**  after finally coming to grips with their fear is to draw deadly drones to them and risk a violent gruesome death because it’s the only thing they have time to do to save someone they basically just met.

 

**2.**

I’ve been working on a moment-to-moment analysis of his entire fight  ~~for a few weeks~~   ~~months~~  and, yeah, there’s really no believable way for Lars not to have figured out that sufficiently damaged Robonoids explode. 

He would’ve seen, or at the very least heard, the other two blow up.  In fact, that may have given him the idea on how to destroy the last one, but idk, that interpretation is more up in the air.  Besides, he grew up in Beach City, which has seen a lot of gem shit over the years. And gem shit, as a rule, explodes when destroyed.

Following this train of thought, we can also assume that he knew being in the middle of an explosion midair would be fatal, since that’s just basic logic and Lars isn’t stupid.

Boy knew he was dead.

Even if the narrative had given him a sliver of hope for surviving that (instead of being like “yeah, no, you’re fucked; sorry, bucko”), the thought probably would’ve been quickly extinguished by his nasty anxiety issues. Oof.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Unofficial 3.**  
>  Now that we know from Stranded that Lars is closer to genius than fool, my suspicion that he knew he was going to die when he stabbed the Robonoid has been further raised.


	39. Lars’ Shirts + Symbolism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death, resurrection, rebirth, immortality, protection (mini-meta)

Snake (seen as a death/resurrection symbol due to its deadliness and the shedding of its skin)

 

[Scorpion](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11983434/chapters/28741672) (pretty much the same deal as the snake)

 

DEAD Chick (death-touched traditional symbol of rebirth)

 

Skull (best known as a symbol of death, but also represents resurrection, immortality, and protection. And, on a darker note, human sacrifice)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't touch on the symbolic meanings in detail beyond how they all stand for death/resurrection due to the character limits for image sets on Tumblr and this is focused solely on his shirts, but don't worry, I still plan on writing a more detailed post on the symbolism and foreshadowing surrounding Lars at a later date.


	40. The Captain's Cascade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lars' role in Season 5 reminds me of the ending of Homestuck's fifth act. This is a story comparison ramble that contains Homestuck spoilers, so be warned. Also, this isn't meant to be taken seriously.

Lars’ role in Season 5 has an astonishing number of similarities to two points in Homestuck’s Cascade:

Rose and Dave’s suicide mission…. and then Jade’s God Tiering. 

Let’s see, a teenage boy who wants to be seen as cool (but suffers from anxiety and depression) ends up traveling with a “Rose” character who got some (falsified) information and is trying to fix everything by going on a suicide mission through the void.  Both of them are just scared kids who are basically waiting to die. Together, they find out that the information was falsified and end up traveling into the depths of a city-covered celestial body, Homeworld, where the boy dies in an explosion and "reaches God Tier."  

Which, as with Jade, involves him gaining the powers of the series’ resident mysterious magical guardian animal.  This has been jokingly referred to as him “reaching Lion Tier.”

After sending Steven back to Earth for safety, the newly Lion Tiered Lars eventually steals a yellow ship with the goal of escaping from a  ~~doomed universe~~  miserable galaxy of certain death to reach another galaxy that’s basically the “promised land” where he will presumably regroup with everyone else, like Jade.  And he’s bringing four gems that would otherwise be destroyed with him (kinda like how Jade shrunk five planets to rescue them from impending annihilation, though far less impressive).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since a lot of people throw fits if separate stories are compared together or mistake similarities for plagiarism, I should probably point out that this is not meant to be critical.


	41. “Steven’s Familiar? Bitch Please, I’m Lars Of The Stars!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the things I like best about Lars Of The Stars is how it completely shoots down several uncomfortable interpretations of Lars that sprang up after Lars’ Head. (Note: Written before Stranded aired, though pretty much everything stated here still stands.)

While I still don’t know quite how to feel about Lars Of The Stars and Lars’ sudden burst in confidence and hypercompetence ( ~~or his new day palette, which looks awful tbh~~ Edit: oh thank god it's just the lighting of the leaked recording), one thing I  _definitely_ like is that it completely shoots down several uncomfortable interpretations of Lars that sprang up after Lars’ Head, like Lars being: 

  * Steven’s “familiar” or “servant.”  _(I… no.  Wow, no.  What’s **wrong** with you. He’s a  **person**. And a **boy of color** at that, being Filipino.)_
  * a passive player in the narrative whose only purpose is to trigger a rescue mission _(despite his active role in Wanted and, you know, the fact that his character arc from The Good Lars to Lars’ Head contained elements of the Hero’s Journey; I’m just saying)._
  * a plot device and living portal with no agency or story arc of his own _(this… this is too stupid for a quick retort)._
  * feminized because he turned pink. _(someone missed the whole “color shouldn’t be gendered” message of the show…_ )



Now?

Now Lars is like “strong independent badass reanimated Off Color Filipino space pirate captain who isn’t here to serve anyone and can fight his own damn battles thank you fuck you” and that’s beautiful.

**“Steven’s familiar? Bitch please, I’m Lars of the Stars!”**

Also Captain Lars makes the trans Lars theory 200% better now that no one can call S5!Lars a “delicate soft pastel boi” and use him to feed into the widespread condescending mentality that feminizes trans boys any more.

Lars being a badass Filipino trans boy that laughs in the face of his enemies and steals spaceships right from under their noses while looking fabulous as shit?  Hell yes, sign me the fuck up.

* * *

**[sterile-nails-the-lifelover](http://sterile-nails-the-lifelover.tumblr.com/)**  replied to your post [ “While I still don’t know quite how to feel about Lars Of The Stars and…”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/164483471824/while-i-still-dont-know-quite-how-to-feel-about)

> The ‘pastel boi’ thing has been happening extra now tho :c I see it everywhere

Yeah, this is actually an old post I wrote up some time ago. I really should’ve edited that part of the post, because while I’m still seeing that stuff less than I used to, it’s been making a bit of a comeback.

It used to be a nonstop flood after Wanted aired.  Then it pretty much screeched to a halt after everyone saw the promo and started drawing Lars as a confident space pirate for a couple of weeks.  That’s when I wrote this post up (it takes me forever to work up the courage to post anything, so pretty much anything I post is actually ancient and covered in cobwebs).

Man, I really was  _way_ too absolute and optimistic about that “no one can do this or that” thing, huh?  The sad reality is that once a concept or idea is spread around in a fandom, it’s next to impossible to completely uproot and destroy, especially when it’s rooted in real life social issues.  Of  _course_ , Lars growing into a confident and capable space pirate wouldn’t be enough to shoot that concept down completely.


	42. The Impossible Bloom Followup: The Moss, The Nerd, & The Tyrant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I speculate about the symbolic meaning of the moss blossoms on the show in regards to Ronaldo and Lars, then realize at the last minute that I missed a critical detail.

[mambocat](https://mambocat.tumblr.com/) replied to your post [“The Impossible Bloom”](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/166449948459/the-impossible-bloom)

> I love this interpretation. Also….Ronaldo was allergic to the moss which I find hilarious…

I’ve often wondered whether the mention of Ronaldo [being allergic to the point of nearly puking](http://keepbeachcityweird.tumblr.com/post/79256839025/flower-power) on the KBCW blog, but _not on the show itself_ when he’s near them, was to reinforce the whole “pink five-petaled rose blossoms are _Lars’_ deal” thing, since that’s the only time I can think of where they’ve come up without any connection to donut son.

(not included: Island Adventure and possibly others)

It _might_ be meant to reflect Ronaldo’s mentality toward the world, in keeping with both my moss analysis and my interpretation of Ronaldo, but I’m not so sure about that, because if true it seems strange that they’d push the flowers for Lars, but not for Ronaldo. 

It could be foreshadowing for Ronaldo’s negative relationship with Lars as shown in Horror Club.  The moss and its blossoms are set up to represent Lars, after all.

Then again, apparently the five-petaled rose also symbolizes sacrificial death and resurrection so maybe they just want to limit Ronaldo’s positive association with items associated with a different character’s symbolic motif (in this case, Lars’ death/rebirth theme).  

 

_Or it could just be **Rule Of Funny** and I’m just overthinking this._

* * *

 

 **Important Correction:** Lars and _Pink Diamond_ are both heavily associated with pink five-petaled blossoms.  I have no idea how I missed this.  

This is especially worth noting since we now know from Stranded that she has the same color scheme as resurrected beings like Lion and Lars.  This seems a bit ominous, but everything is only speculation at this point, so maybe not.  We'll see.


	43. Seeing Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some thoughts on the possibility of Steven and Lars fusing.

**anonymous** asked:

> Do you think that Steven and Lars will end up fusing at some point?

I’m not convinced they will, but I hope so.  For starters, a big part of Lars’ personal arc seems to be him learning to open up to others and let himself be vulnerable with his friends.  This fits with the concept of fusion as an act of trust between two or more gems.

> GARNET: First you need a gem at the core of your being. Then you need a body that can turn into light. Then you need a partner you can trust with that light.

I imagine it would be a bit tricky for them to reach that point though.  Lars is wary of magical things being done to his body without his consent, especially after The New Lars, and Steven is very attentive to this.  So fusing would have to be either discussed first, unless accidental.  If an accident, they’d probably defuse immediately and Steven would be very apologetic, then they’d probably have a short discussion about what just happened.  They’ll try to fuse again, if Lars is okay with it.

But in order to fuse, they need to be in a situation where fusing is possible.  It’ll (probably) also have to be necessary, since there’s little other reason for them to even think about fusing. This brings us to a little snag in the idea of a Stars fusion:  Lars is a space pirate captain and Steven is a ground fighter/healer.  

There is some implication that Captain Lars has some experience in combat and not just sneaking around and giving strategic orders, but it’s likely that the majority of his battles have all been space dogfights.  In other words, it’s unlikely that he has nearly as much experience or capability in fighting enemies on the ground as Steven. There’s also the fact that, while he’s only a space pirate now for the sake of getting back home, the podcast for Lars Of The Stars left the impression that Lars being a space pirate isn’t going to change any time soon even when he returns to Earth. 

Because of the difference in the nature of their abilities, while Steven can go up into space to see Lars as long as Lion is around, fusing with Lars probably won’t be of much help to anyone up there. The same problem will likely exist when Lars is on Earth.  Unless/until Lars gets ground combat training, there’s no real benefit to Steven fusing with him.

Another possible roadblock is that Lars’ magic  _automatically_ reacts to Steven’s touch.  How will their magic interact in a fusion?  Will Stars’ magic be perpetually on, like power incontinence, like he just has glowing static-y moving hair and possibly glowing eyes at all times? Or will the magic that brought Lars back actually make it extremely difficult, if not nigh impossible, for him to fuse with Steven?  Then again, we know Lion can control his magic so Steven can only go into his mane when he allows it, even when Steven touches it, so perhaps Lars will just need to learn to control his magic hair before fusing with Steven.

 


	44. Deceptive First Look

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The majority didn't consider Lars a major character for the longest time because his introduction misinformed the audience of the nature of his role on the show.

**anonymous** asked:

> Is it weird that most people didn't consider Lars a prominent character, even though he has more episode appearances than Connie, Sadie, Peridot and Lapis, was one of the first characters made for the show. We were even introduced to him and Sadie in Gem Glow before we even meet the CG's, and he was in the Pilot.

Actually, if I remember correctly, there’s only been 11 episodes with Lars in the spotlight total. That’s including Tiger Philanthropist and Joking Victim, even though the latter was more of a Sadie episode.   Lapis is only in the spotlight in 9 episodes, but Connie has  _at least_  20 episodes heavily featuring her (started to lose count at 17) and Peridot has roughly 15 (starting with Catch & Release). 

Otherwise, yes, Lars has had more spotlight episodes than any other  _human_ character besides Greg (or Connie), even before Season 5 came around.  Sadie features prominently in most of his pre-Wanted episodes, but she’s usually a supporting character in them, leaving her with only 2 to 3 episodes that are undeniably hers.

For the longest time, Lars was widely assumed to be just another example of the typical one-dimensional teenage jerk that exists just to butt heads with the kid hero instead of a dynamic character undergoing an arc of his own.  Flat teenage jerks who clash with the younger hero exist in nearly every other kid’s show and tend to get a lot of appearances because they exist more or less solely to create conflict or be obnoxious so people will cheer when they get hurt, so I think a lot of people just assumed that’s the reason Lars made so many appearances.  

I can understand why.  Viewers familiar with any given type of genre (in this case, a coming-of-age kid’s show) come into a series of that genre with certain subconscious expectations about what the characters will be like.  The SU audience expected a one-dimensional teenage jerk, so when they saw Lars being all sullen, immature, and mocking Steven that’s the role they allotted him to on a subconscious level.  Once an audience decides what a character is, it’s hard for them to change their mind.

Most people didn’t think anything strange about Lars and Sadie having major roles in both the pilot and the premiere because of this, because he butted heads with Steven in the pilot and teased him when he was distressed about his favorite ice cream treat being discontinued in the premiere. Of course, there’s also the fact that the Big Donut is shown to apparently be a convenient short distance from the temple (also Steven likes donuts) and the donut kids are only shown at work and in uniform in both episodes. 

 


	45. Already A Crystal Gem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All in all, there’s no real reason why Captain Lars and the off-color pirates can’t be considered Crystal Gems now, other than no one on the show has outright called them that.

**anonymous** asked:

> Do you think Lars plans on joining the Crystal Gems, since its been foreshadowed since Lars Head with the tear of a star in his collar shirt, plus his ship has a CG logo. Or is he going to remain leader of the Off Colors on Earth, and be just an ally.

Personally, I pick a third option. And a fourth option, really:

**Both and neither.**

I say “both” because there’s no reason why Lars can’t remain the leader of the Off Colors on Earth (or even in space) _and_ be part of the Crystal Gems at the same time.  Nothing’s really stopping him from receiving orders from the original CGs and giving orders to his crew at the same time.  Rose has been said to have led _armies_ against Homeworld. She had generals, commanders, and captains beneath her who would receive her commands and then give orders to the gems under them.  So Lars remaining a captain even as a CG isn’t an impossibility.  He’d just be the first new captain since the war ended.

Besides, it sounds like Emerald and her fleet will be a reoccurring threat for the Crystal Gems this season. We saw in The Return that the CGs don’t have any weapons that can take down a modern gem ship. They might need Lars’ help as a space pirate.  He could act as a space privateer to help protect Earth from Homeworld. I think the only thing that would truly prevent this from being an option is if he and his crew end up without a ship and grounded like the original Crystal Gems.  Which, let’s face it, would be a huge waste of potential.

However, I also say “neither” because how can Lars plan on joining the Crystal Gems **_when he’s already one_** , howbeit an unofficial one at the moment?  At least, this is what all the evidence suggests.  Even though he hasn’t been on any official Crystal Gem missions, he meets the same basic requirements Connie does and more than Ronaldo did when _he_ was a Crystal Gem.

> RONALDO: How come I don’t get your mom’s gempon? That’s “Gem” and “weapon”.
> 
> STEVEN: Well, Connie’s been **a part of the Crystal Gems longer than you** , so…

And of course, as you mentioned before, Lars is associated with five-pointed stars, just like the Crystal Gems.  He’s been associated with the image for quite a long time actually, though it’s much more prominent in Season 5.

He’s even known as Lars of the Stars now, though this title might be used by him as a way to keep Homeworld from associating Earth with him and thus figuring out where he and his crew are going, and named his personal experimental fighter the _Star Skipper_.

On top of this, his flower motif vaguely resembles a five-pointed star, though this might have more to do with his parallels with Rose Quartz and his post-resurrection body, which the flowers could be said to act as foreshadowing for, having some sort of connection to _Pink Diamond_.

I consider his crew to be Crystal Gems as well, or at the very least to have the potential for becoming CGs.  We’ve seen their compassion and acceptance of each other and any other off colors they encounter, feelings Lars quickly showed toward them in turn.  In Rocknaldo, Steven described this love and acceptance between diverse people as the nature of Crystal Gems.

> STEVEN: We’re all different, but we love and accept each other. That’s what Crystal Gems do.

Lars and his crew have also been fighting Homeworld for survival.  I doubt they would just sit around twiddling their thumbs once they’ve reached Earth.   Lars regrets taking the Earth for granted and loves it despite everything Beach City has put him through.  I imagine he would want to protect his home, especially since he has expressed the desire to help others (do good for the sake of it) and has even shown signs of having a bit of a hero complex (in the trope sense). The off colors themselves lived a hellish existence on Homeworld, so I’d imagine they’d fight alongside Lars to protect their new home if they have to. This could even be the pay off to those scenes of the Crystal Gems collecting weapons all those seasons ago.

While I doubt the Diamonds have taken note of him at all (unless they’ve recognized him as the human that escaped with Rose Quartz, only pink), Lars has become something of a notorious space pirate.  He’s gained many enemies since his resurrection, including what could be best described as a gem _admiral_  and her fleet. As an Earth-bound fugitive and enemy to Homeworld and, by extension, the Diamond Authority, this means he arguably already counts as a Crystal Gem, much in the same way as Peridot did.

> PERIDOT: I thought I could reason with [Yellow Diamond]…
> 
> AMETHYST: Yeah. You really made her mad.
> 
> PEARL: And then you insulted her to her face.
> 
> STEVEN: Do you know what this means?!
> 
> PERIDOT: That I’m a traitor to my home world?
> 
> STEVEN: You’re a Crystal Gem!
> 
> GARNET: Whether you like it or not.

Like Peridot, Lars didn’t sign up for this.  In a way, he was drafted into the gem conflict, though he expressed a desire to have the guts to stick up for others before taking action against Homeworld of his own free will by protecting gems the Diamonds want destroyed (at the cost of his life). But, unlike Peridot, who ended up a Crystal Gem because she accidentally lost her cool with Yellow Diamond when trying to convince her to stop the Cluster, Lars chose to fight soon after being pulled into the conflict.

All in all, there’s no real reason why Captain Lars and the off-color pirates can’t be considered Crystal Gems now, other than no one on the show has outright called them that.


	46. Political Favor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why Steven continued to help Mayor Dewey over Nanefua even after he was insensitive and unsympathetic over the loss of Lars in front of his grieved loved ones.

**anonymous** asked:

> Do you think more of Steven behavior will be addressed this season. Like Dewey Wins had to be an example. Steven should have never helped Dewey to begin with but he still did. He still supported him even after he was unsympathetic, and disregarded Lars well being. Why was he so fixated in helping an incompetent Mayor run against Nanefua a friend of Steven who wanted to protect the town better.

**Note: Since Billiam Dewey is no longer the mayor, I’ve opted to just call him Bill and Bill Dewey in this analysis when not directly referring to his previous role as mayor.**

I don’t think Steven did anything wrong in Dewey Wins or the episodes following that hasn’t already been addressed, but I understand the sentiment.  When I first watched the episodes between “Wanted” and “Stranded,” Steven’s actions made me very angry, especially whenever he’d insinuate that watching Lars suffer  _a brutal death protecting him_  was no big deal.  

But, when I rewatched the episodes, I realized Steven was trying to play off everything that happened since “Are You My Dad?” as not a big deal to both himself and everyone around him as a way to deal with all the traumatic experiences he’d just gone through and wanted to feel like he did the right thing in handing himself over.

As for how Steven would talk like Lars’ death was no big deal, Lars was brought back to life only a minute or two after he died. I think Steven rationalized what happened as being like Lars had just poofed like a gem and reformed, something Steven has witnessed time and again with the Gems.  Unlike most humans, Steven already has a point of reference for seeing someone come back from the dead, though he’d never seen it happen to a human before Lars.  What he doesn’t have a point of reference for is seeing someone die and  _stay dead_.

 **In answer to your actual question,** I think Dewey Wins explains why Steven tries to help Mayor Dewey just fine. Steven feels like it’s his  _responsibility_ to help, just like when he helped him in “Political Power”:  

> STEVEN: He’s right. Mayor Dewey, this is our  responsibility. We’ll help you clean up this mess.
> 
> GARNET: *calling from inside the house* No, we won’t!
> 
> STEVEN:  _I’ll_  help you clean up this mess.

He still blames himself for the abductions and wants to make up for what happened somehow.  He’s helping the incompetent and insensitive Mayor Dewey because he feels like he’s being judged unfairly for things out of his control, which in a way is true, though Bill Dewey’s insensitivity and bumbling certainly didn’t help matters any either.

> STEVEN: [typing to Connie] Can’t hang today. Mayor D’s getting blamed for Gem stuff, and it’s totally my fault.

As for choosing to help Bill over Nanefua, Steven is friends with  **both** of them.  In fact, it can even be argued that he’s probably  _closer_ to Bill Dewey than Nanefua, since he’d previously spent a day helping Bill out and the most time he’s spent with Nanefua that I can think of was the beach party he threw that one time.

In Political Power, Bill admitted to Steven that he can’t really do much as a mayor to help the town in times of crisis.  The only thing he can do is make sure the businesses are all running, try to keep the business owners happy, and hope the Crystal Gems can save the day.  Mind, this doesn’t justify the former mayor’s disregarding the town’s safety laws for his own convenience and his callous, insensitive attitude toward the people under his leadership, referring to the younger generations by nicknames instead of bothering to learn their individual names, though it backfires on him spectacularly in Dewey Wins.  His very poorly thought out promise to make sure a new donut boy is hired was an attempt to rectify his slip up and pacify the town.  He probably remembers how poorly lying to the people to calm them had gone in Political Power, which is why he tried to calm everyone with a promise he believed he could keep. Of course, his insensitive promise of a new donut boy only makes the town angrier with him. 

The only reason Steven continues to support him despite this complete lack of tact is because, by the time of Dewey Wins, he’s already gotten to know the mayor and understands Bill Dewey isn’t good with people (not to mention not very smart).  After all, he (a  **fourteen-year-old boy** ) has had to help him out of a political jam in the past. Twice.  Arguably, Dewey Wins is the  _third_ time he has had to help Bill, if we consider how Steven, Jamie, and Pearl had to fix the play Mayor Dewey wrote to encourage people to vote for him.  And, as I said before, Steven continues to support Bill even after he disregarded Lars out of a belief that he  _has_ to help him out of a misplaced sense of responsibility and guilt.


	47. Why I Block The Hatedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t block people just for disliking something I like. Trust me, if the type of hate I've seen directed at Lars was aimed at a character that I disliked, I would STILL block them. (Warning: Fandom Critical; Negativity)

**[ncfanboy1](http://ncfanboy1.tumblr.com/)**  replied to your post:

> @metawasteoftime (sorry for repeating myself, just wanted to update) “I’ve gotten in the habit of just outright blocking people who hate Lars or say Lars was an awful evil character until he turned pink” I… think you owe those blocked users an apology. If they were being annoying jerks that’s an understandable reason to block them, but if it’s for having an opinion of a character that’s different from yours then that’s just the pot calling the kettle “black.”

I think I was pretty explicit about  _why_ I’ve gotten into the habit of just blocking Lars haters on sight:

> I’ve gotten in the habit of just outright blocking people who hate Lars or say Lars is/was an awful evil character until he turned pink (because, ya know, his friendship with Steven, expressed remorse for his past actions, and him trying to protect people even at the cost of his life were totally eeeevil things he needs redeeming from -_-).  With most characters, it’s like “Loooool, that’s just their opinion so whatevs,” but with Lars I have found that the character hate is  _so_ detached from any realm of reality that it’s honestly creepy, especially since an overwhelming amount boils down to racism, ableism, victim-blaming, victim-silencing?? (not sure of the term, but like “no matter what Lars goes through he has no right to complain or be upset”), and the very same gender double standards that the show seeks to circumvent.

**I don’t block people just for disliking something I like.**

What sets Lars’ remaining haters  _and_ people who claim that Lars is/was an evil abusive sadist until he turned pink apart for me is that the ones that I’ve encountered:

  * are racist, and I mean in the “explicitly dislikes poc and thinks white people are inherently better” sense.
  * woobify fascists and fascism-coded characters regardless of what evil those characters do, while  _vilifying characters of color_ regardless of what good they do
  * believe things like men can’t really be abused and if their partner hurts them they must’ve been asking for it (or even that if their partner hurts them  _it must be because they’re lashing out at the man for mistreating them_ )
  * are extremely ableist toward people struggling with mental illness.



And, yes, are annoying and obnoxious jerks about their opinion that cross-post in the tags to create drama.

These are things I do make a point to block people over.  Trust me, if this type of hate was directed at a character that I disliked, I would STILL block them.

I  _don’t_  block people who simply didn’t like Lars before Wanted or don’t really care for him.  That would be incredibly unfair and unrealistic of me; I would be blocking most of the fandom then.  I only block the people who straight-up hate him or claim he is pure evil or was until he turned pink.

Even if I  _was_ blocking people simply for having a different opinion, that would be fully within my rights.  I would not be hurting anyone by doing so and blocking people that you don’t want to associate with or see posts by is considered the POLITE way to deal with unnecessary potential online conflict.  It’s also a valid form of online self-care, so there’s that.  I fail to see how it’s like “calling the kettle black.”  How is blocking people because they make me uncomfortable and I’d rather not see their posts or interact with them just like having a different opinion from someone else?  That’s like comparing apples and oranges. 

Lastly, I'm pretty sure Lars haters wouldn't care to see my decisively pro-Lars posts anyway.


	48. Singer & Rebel Followup: Pink Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more thoughts on the Lars and Rose parallels. (Spoilers for A Single Pale Rose)

Okay, yes, I’m definitely thinking of writing another Lars/Rose character parallel analysis now, because it feels even more relevant now that the truth is out and the parallels between Lars and Rose/Pink is even more blatant.

For example, while Pink became Rose permanently by faking her death, Lars was transformed into the mirror parallel of Rose of the Rebellion (that is to say,  _Pink Diamond_ ) when he was resurrected, eventually becoming the (legitimately) capable leader of a small rebellion against Homeworld himself.

Another interesting thing I noted is that Pink’s plan to become Rose Quartz permanently was arguably the  _reverse_ of Lars’ motivation and sacrifice in Wanted. While I understand why Pink had to (or  _felt_ she had to) do it, there was still a thread of selfishness and being enamored with the idea of becoming like the Earthlings running through her choices. She gave up what she  _had_ to get what she  _wanted_. Lars saw nothing he wanted for himself in the off-colors’ miserable lives, but had compassion and sympathy for them, ultimately sacrificing himself for them in battle to no personal benefit to himself because, well,  **dead is dead**.  Like Steven, while Lars is  _like_ Rose, he’s ultimately a better person than her because of his innate human nature. The kind of person Rose couldn’t beno matter how much she wanted, because it wasn’t in her programming.

And, like I mentioned before (edit: on Tumblr), there’s the similarities of their outfits.

Both outfits are clearly designed to suggest a person of importance and authority and, design-wise, they both wear a reddish top over pale leggings and a piece across the chest with a line running down the middle. 

Pink has the appearance of a Disney princess with elegant shoes and gloves, puffy sleeves, and a small frilly skirt, fittingly suggesting an aristocrat or member of royalty that is allegedly unlikely to stroll into battle themselves.  Captain Lars, in contrast to Pink, is dressed more akin to a  _prince_ , wearing darker colors, a heavy cape, and thick boots and gloves “made for ass-kicking.”  His stolen look is of someone who gives orders in battle, but is willing to get their own hands dirty and is capable of doing so, if need be.

A Single Pale Rose also seems to support this low-key theory I’ve had for a while now that Steven is meant to be read as the  _Pearl_ to Lars’ Rose/Pink. Pearl pretended to be Rose to help Pink fake her death and cried as she did so over Pink’s fake shards, while Lars’ death was the result of Steven pretending to be Rose to try to save him and Steven cried on his corpse, which ended up resurrecting him and drastically altering his appearance (and biology) permanently. This isn’t the first time Steven has mirrored Pearl’s role in regards to Lars, especially after Sadie started paralleling Greg more. 

As far as similarities between Steven and Pearl goes, there is a bit of a power imbalance between Steven and Lars (due to their age difference) though unlike Pearl, Steven’s adoration of Lars is far more brotherly than anything and he is enthusiastically supportive of Lars’ relationship with Sadie, to the point of meddling in their personal affairs and essentially using Lars to push his own agenda (e.g. The New Lars, mirroring We Have To Talk). Still not sure where The Good Lars fits in with all this, but there you have it.

 

**[ricardoreviews](http://ricardoreviews.tumblr.com/post/173819170426)**  replies

 

> The Good Lars I feel has the Steven and Lars conversation kind of mirror Pink to Pearl. Pearl in that is very hesitant about her plan and Pink generally brushes it off and pushes Pearl to go along with it. Steven however implores Lars to talk about his feelings but doesn’t beat it out of him and even tells Lars something that I don’t think Pink ever considered, that even if things don’t work out the way you want it to that doesn’t mean the world is gonna end.
> 
> Pink always got what she wanted but never what she needed and honestly at a massive price. She stomped around for a colony and endangered the Earth and then after (rather limply) advocating for the colony to be abolished she made up this convoluted plan so she could be free which led to a war that killed God knows how many gems. By the time Rose met Greg it almost feels like a cruel joke that after all that she STILL didn’t respect humans and was unaware of the cluster that would’ve blown the planet up and render her whole life meaningless. Lars however almost never gets what he wants, he can’t even bring himself to go to that potluck, but he does steadily learn that even if things aren’t gonna go how he dreams that doesn’t mean he can just burn it all down in anger, he needs to accept what’s in front of him. That’s arguably the main moral of Lars of The Stars.
> 
> This isn’t to say “lay down and take it” but more that when faced with hardship, it’s okay to be afraid but eventually you have to stop sprinting in the opposite direction and take on reality and whatever it throws at you.

This is an excellent point.  Steven’ and Lars’ conversation in The Good Lars _is_ similar to Pearl and Rose’s in A Single Pale Rose, especially given that Lars’ big transformation follows it only a couple of days later.

On this thought, there’s an interesting contrast of  “wanting” vs. “deserving” between Pink/Rose and Lars, and neither of them are any good at defining their actual  _needs_.  Rose treated her wants as if they were needs, never considering that she might need something she  _doesn’t_  want, She always knew what she wanted, even if she changed her mind later, and would chase her wants down at any cost, because in her mind “wanting” was the same thing as “deserving it.” Her wants were always big and rarely realistic. Even when she gave up her physical form to have Steven, according to the podcast this was more or less because she  _wanted_ to be a human and that was as close as she could get to that goal. Even her room centers around wanting things. 

In complete contrast to her, Lars rarely knows what he wants and the things he does want are often small or even basic human needs, such as secure friendships and acceptance, and he’s unhealthily focused on what he “deserves,” which in his mind is very little (and mostly things he  _doesn’t_  want, like death and abandonment). He treats his basic needs and human rights, even  _life_ , like they’re things to be earned.

Another difference between them that can be read as rooted in this dichotomy of “want/deserve” is how they handle past regrets. Pink never wants to look back on her mistakes and life as a Diamond to the point of burdening Pearl, her  _best friend_  who she wants to free, with an unbreakable order to never speak of her being Pink Diamond again whereas Lars  _won’t_ stop looking back on his past mistakes and beating himself up over them.  Likewise, Pink believes the other Diamonds wouldn’t care if she dies, and is angry and bitter about this, whereas Lars  _expects_ his loved ones to hurt him on purpose (because he thinks he deserves it) and is quick to assume they are.

 


	49. Lapis Meeting Lars?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. A short meta.

It looks that way, though I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I’d love for Lars and Lapis to meet and become friends (especially with the friendship tease between Lars and Peridot in Letters To Lars and the podcast), but I’m not sure about the idea of Lars being the one to get through to Lapis and bring her back.

Besides, there’s a particularly daunting hurdle for the “Lapis joins and/or is fixed by Lars” theory to overcome that I haven’t seen anyone discuss and that is Lars being a wanted space pirate who regularly goes up against fully armed and sapient gems. Even being _around_ Captain Lars would place Lapis dead center in an unpredictable conflict against Homeworld, her worst nightmare. As long as her gem isn’t damaged, I’m not sure she’d stick around long enough for him to convince her to stop running.


	50. The Hidden Brilliance of Lars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In regards to the reveal that Lars is a genius in Stranded, it might just be that none of us thought real hard about what the previous seasons were actually implying about his intelligence.

**anonymous** asked:

> Do you think there's more to Lars then we know, like he's even got more hidden depth. Him being able to lead a group of gems with no combat skills against elite gems thousands of years older than him, not to mention he designed his own shuttle which is pretty impressive, considering he was failing school, and he knew nothing about Homeworld before being abducted.

**(Sorry for taking so long to answer; this post was swallowed up in my drafts along with some other asks).**

Yeah, I will be very surprised if this is as far as his hidden depths will go, especially given that Matthew Moy gave a rather cryptic answer when people asked him about this. Lars spent quite a long time pretending to be something he’s not, so it would make sense to me if he was revealed to have more hidden depths.

However, it might just be that none of us thought real hard about what the previous seasons actually said about Lars. It’s interesting that you bring up him failing school, since that could be interpreted as the biggest clue that Lars is secretly brilliant that we got before Stranded, though no one would read it that way unless they added up all the information that given to us about his daily life and considered how the scene focusing on his grades was done. 

The first thing worth noting about the scene is how _long_ it is. The New Lars spends roughly _a minute and a half_ discussing his grades in an eleven minute long episode. That might not seem like much, but the episode’s plot is Steven trying to help Lars’ relationship with Sadie and (unintentionally) helping Lars realize he “didn’t need to be such a jerk all the time.” The heart of the Barriga family scene is Lars’ parents seeing him acting uncharacteristically friendly toward him. The scene could’ve gotten this across _without_ the school grades coming up at all.

Details in his house and his parents’ overall attitude towards him also leave the impression that they had _very_ high expectations for him in the past, framing his childhood artwork proudly on the wall instead of just sticking them on the refrigerator like normal parents do. They let him go ahead and move into the attic with the promise that he’ll raise his grades from below average. It’s a promise he ended up not keeping, but one his parents believed was fully within his ability to keep despite the fact that he’s _failing_ seven classes. Even though his parents are worried that he’s doing so bad, worried about him falling apart if they discuss school with him, and have gone from high expectations for him to expecting him to fail and _turn to a life of crime_ , they don’t offer to help him with his school work. They only ask him to put a little effort into it. These details suggest that the problem is _not_ that Lars is book dumb, but rather that his anxiety, self-loathing, fear of trying and failing, and obsession with appearances (being book smart isn’t “cool”) keeps him from even trying at school.

It’s also important to note that Lars is apparently taking _nine high school classes_ (that’s a bit more than the maximum generally allowed in real life schools) at the same time as working long hours every day (even during the school year).

> LARS: Ha, you must be confused, pal. **I work here every day** and I’ve never seen _your_ mug before.

Overall, life had him practically _set up_ to fail, yet somehow he managed to stay in school and even pass two classes.

As the crewniverse and CN says, Lars is a high school slacker, and that’s why his grades are so low. However, the number of classes also shows that he secretly has way too much on his lap for the average person to handle yet is still getting by, though barely. In fiction, that’s basically the character code for “Secretly A Genius” and is one of the traits associated with the “Brilliant But Lazy” trope. I’m still kicking myself over the fact that I completely missed this, especially since my previous fandom (Undertale) had Sans the skeleton.

You might be thinking that maybe the show is just depicting characters having an unrealistic schedule without a deeper meaning and I’m looking too deep into it. But let’s compare Lars to Connie, who was raised on a tight schedule where she practiced and studied many extracurricular activities by her parents. The show always keeps the fact that she goes to school in mind. She’s not always available to do her “job” as a Crystal Gem due to school and her strict upbringing, combined with her passion for learning, makes her wide range of skills believable. Even her gift for the blade was first foreshadowed by her skills at tennis. When she finally started learning how to use a sword, she spent her spare time in her strict schedule to train diligently and it took a lot of practice and hard work for her to become the capable swordfighter she is now. So while hectic, her schedule gives her a believable amount of time and breathing room. It makes logical sense. Lars’ daily schedule – with both his school and job in mind – does not.

The grades scene from The New Lars wasn’t the only clue we had that Lars is smarter than he gives himself credit for. Even the fact that Ronaldo _wants_ to be seen as a cunning genius could arguably count as a clue that Lars is not what he seems, since Ronaldo has been specifically written to be Lars’ opposite in many other regards in the past. We also know that Lars harbored a lot of shame towards himself from his skills as a baker to his cultural heritage. When Lars behaved in a certain way in the past, there was always the question of whether or not he’s putting on an act to make himself seem less “weird.” 

Then there the speed to which Lars adapts to any situation, even if he’s making a fuss about it. For example, in Island Adventure, despite being terrified and upset about being stranded with little hope of ever seeing his home again, he spent much of his time trying to call for help to get him and his friends off the island, cooking, and acting as the camp medic. 

And he’s always been a fast learner, even before Off Colors, where his ability to think on his feet and quickly learn and adapt to a situation aided him in his battle against the Robonoids. While many fans complain that Lars would always forget the lesson that he doesn’t need to be a jerk, most of his previous episodes _didn’t_ have that as the moral of the story. In fact, while Lars would mess up a lot, he never messed up in the exact same way twice. After Lars And The Cool Kids, he stopped teasing Steven and they became something of friends. After Joking Victim, he never lied to get out of work again, though perhaps he didn’t need to, since it could be that Island Adventure was Sadie’s very poorly thought out attempt to make up for her actions.

> SADIE: Look, I panicked! I hid the warp pad! You were just gonna leave, but I knew how much you really needed this!

As for Island Adventure and Horror Club, while he was a jerk in both episodes, his attitude didn’t get much focus in either of them and some of his anger was entirely understandable, even justified. Naturally, he learned little if anything in those episodes about trying to be less of a jerk. It wasn’t until The New Lars that his bad attitude overall became the focus of an episode and he became considerably more nicer and considerate in his appearances following it (though sadly a bit broken; while Lars can have a rough personality, he didn’t deserve that. No one does).

However, being a fast learner isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes he messes up at doing something good that he’s not accustomed to doing and then he doesn’t try doing it again because he doesn’t realize the act itself wasn’t wrong, just the way he went around it. For example, after Jenny rebuffed his attempt to pay her an innocent compliment in Lars And The Cool Kids, he never tried complimenting her again, as we find out in The New Lars. And sometimes he ends up learning the wrong thing or even take a _toxic_ relationship lesson to heart. Since Lars had a lonely childhood growing up, much of his ideas of how he should act around his peers were apparently taken from media. Media commonly depicts being cool as being a cold, distant bastard and teens as assholes who gather in judgmental cliques that need to be persuaded to let someone into their group. 

This problem arguably shows in Horror Club, where the lesson for him seemed to be “You should never abandon a friend no matter what. Not even if they mistreat you, don’t respect your feelings, force you to do things you don’t want to do, and make you feel uncomfortable and distressed. If you ever put your own comfort and well-being first above what others want from you, you are a bad person.” This a _terrible_ lesson to give someone, and dangerous! What’s more, according to some things said on the podcast, this kind of thinking is apparently why Lars has been so hard on himself this season, because he would always run away from social events where Sadie "needed him to be there for her" whenever his anxiety got too much for him. They cut out a scene in I Am My Mom before he ran and hid on the ship that would’ve discussed this more clearly on the show itself, but it’s worth noting anyway.

Lars was also associated with a fox in Garnet’s Universe, an episode that was noted to be all about foreshadowing as far back as _Season 2_ due to the reveal that Garnet is a fusion. The fox, of course, is a creature associated with cunning and trickery. The fact that the Foxman was guarding a Shinto shrine (despite wearing a Buddhist rosary) suggests he was meant to invoke the kitsune of Japanese mythology specifically. The kitsune is not only seen as cunning, as most foxes are in mythology, but a powerful magical being who can live for thousands of years and shapeshift into people to mislead humans. Depending on the myth, they are either dangerous tricksters or faithful guardians and protectors. This seems to be foreshadowing for Captain Lars, who is both a dangerous trickster to Homeworld gems and a devoted guardian to off-colors. However, Foxman’s arc overall matches up with Lars’ arc up to his death and resurrection, implying that Lars was always an intelligent guy with a desire to protect others beneath his facade of being an uncaring book dumb jerk. Given the shapeshifting capabilities of the kitsune and how they will try to pass as human, Foxman can also perhaps count as a hint as to just how much of Lars’ true nature he keeps hidden from the rest of Beach City.

Overall, there were actually many clues scattered throughout the previous four seasons that Lars is actually far more clever and capable than he seems. This doesn’t completely remove the possibility that there are more hidden depths to be discovered, but it does make me doubt that we’ll learn anything new about Lars as a person that can truly be said to contradict earlier episodes.


	51. Connie's Diamonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regarding the Diamond imagery and symbolism surrounding Connie.

**anonymous  **asked:

> Connie has been given a lot of diamond symbolism. Since her first appearance, her eyes turn into diamonds the most, two official SU art (the first with Connie swordfighting and a YD statue behind her and the second one with Connie, now with a scar, accompanied by Lion holding what appears to be YD's gem), and now the whole Jungle Moon episode. Then, there was Steven's comment of her becoming president. What are your thoughts?

**((Note: the majority of this post was written before the reveal in A Single Pale Rose; everything in this post still stands though, so hardly anything has been changed))**

I don’t understand quite what you mean by Jungle Moon linking Connie specifically to the Diamonds, since she spent the whole episode in a fusion, but I don’t think there’s anything special about Connie having “diamonds” in her eyes. To start with, they’re not technically diamonds, but four-point _stars_  and lots of characters have had them at some point or another, including **Steven** , Greg, Pearl (who usually has four-point stars in her eyes when excited too), and others.

I think the amount of times she gets these stars in her eyes really has more to do with her personality and age.  She’s the youngest of the main cast, she is someone who tends to get excited more than others due to being a very passionate person in general, and she had a very lonely and boring life before meeting Steven and the Crystal Gems, so she is really eager about all the excitement and mysteries going on around her.

It’s worth also noting that four-point stars in the eye are drawn differently from the symbol for the Diamonds.  They are drawn concave, whereas the Diamond symbol has hard straight edges.

The only time actual diamonds have been depicted is someone’s eyes was in Jungle Moon, where it was a hint that Stevonnie was seeing through a Diamond’s eyes. 

Regarding Steven’s remark about Connie being future president, I can believe that being a dream Connie has expressed to him. She’s an ambitious kid.

As for the connection between Connie and Yellow Diamond, Yellow is implied to be a foil to Connie’s _mother_ , especially in regards to her strict and distant relationship with Pink Diamond. I think her image comes up around Connie to symbolize her strained relationship with her strict mother as well as what she’s helping the Crystal Gems fight against. Perhaps her statue stood behind Connie because her fears about her mother taking away her freedom when she finds out were always in the back of her mind. Connie having Yellow’s gem could further represent the freedom she found when her mother finally found out and realized how her strict parenting was really affecting her daughter and their relationship, and how her mother’s heart now goes _with_ her instead of remaining a distant threat against her freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ??!? Holy crap. This is the 50th meta posted in this collection. The big five-oh. 
> 
> *Sets off fireworks to celebrate*


	52. The Moss Death Omen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beautiful flowers of the magic moss have a dark second symbolic meaning.

Okay, it’s been _ages_ since finding foreshadowing for Lars’ death was actually relevant, especially concerning Rose’s moss, but there is one thing I failed to factor in about them. The idea of pink blossoms blowing away then falling gently over the town seems to be inspired by _falling cherry blossoms_. Ronaldo’s blog even draws this connection.

[[original post here](http://keepbeachcityweird.tumblr.com/post/79256839025/flower-power)]

The thing about cherry blossoms is that, while they do represent rebirth and new beginnings, they also represent _untimely death and the fleeting nature of life_. This particular meaning is even invoked by Ronaldo recreating a scene from an anime about coping with death. 

> STEVEN: [to Lars] What do you know about my mom?! _I_ DIDN'T EVEN GET TO KNOW MY MOM! But I _do_ know, she saw beauty in everything! **Even in stuff like this [points at moss] and even in jerks like you!**

The narrative here in Lars And The Cool Kids directly compares Lars to the moss which will soon bloom and fade away (like cherry blossoms), and Lars continues to be associated with the flowers when they came up again on the show. The KBCW blog even depicts Ronaldo as allergic to the flowers, which he wasn’t in the show, arguably to underscore the fact that these flowers are meant to be seen as symbolic for Lars' character. 

This is perhaps the _darkest_  of the death omens surrounding Lars’ character as it directly foreshadows that he will die _tragically young_  and very soon after he’s had a revelation about himself (”seen the light”). 


	53. Was Lars Truly a Coward Before Season 5?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is treated as common knowledge in fandom that Lars was a complete coward before Wanted. While it is true that Lars has always been an anxious and fearful person, I have some misgivings about this interpretation.

It is treated as common knowledge in fandom that Lars was a complete unforgivable dirty coward before his ill-fated battle in Wanted. While it is true that he has always been an anxious and fearful person, I have some misgivings about this interpretation of his character. 

Let's examine his actions when facing danger throughout the series prior to Season 5, and his role in Wanted in regards to his fear, bravery, and thoughts on past actions.

## Season 1

 **Laser Light Cannon** \- Runs away from massive chunks of falling debris. Okay.

 **Frybo** \- Runs away after escaping Frybo, but so did everyone else.

 **Tiger Millionaire** \- Uses sign to shield himself from some relatively minor debris. How... dare he?

 **Lars and the Cool Kids** \- Works with Steven to save the Cool Kids without protest after getting called out for blaming Steven and calling Rose weird.  He nearly dies in the process.  _Twice_. This isn't so much cowardly as it is, well, actually kinda brave, especially since he’s nervous about driving a car with a stick shift.

 **Joking Victim** \- Lars is having trouble breathing and severely dehydrated in the end. Technically he’s in danger in this episode, so I’m counting it here. While he is upset and terrified for understandable reasons, and running around screaming, trying to find a way to stop the pain, I wouldn’t call this cowardice. He’s just... in pain and trying to stop it.

 **Island Adventure** \- Lars tries to pull Sadie out of the jaws of an enraged large fish and nearly gets dragged away with her. Later in the episode,  _everyone_  flees the corrupted gem. Which is invisible. Lars doesn’t fight it, but that’s not cowardice either. He has no weapons, no fighting skills, and is also physically the weakest of the trio (which is arguably one reason why he had to gain magic abilities instead; wizards are squishy and all that). And  _the gem monster is invisible._  Of course he doesn’t fight it.

 **Horror Club** \- It’s important to note that, up until Sadie is taken, Lars is in denial that something real is going on and believes the whole thing is a malicious prank set up by Ronaldo that Steven is in on. Lars _does_ try to flee the building twice, but they’re ALL fleeing the building the first time (at Sadie’s word). The second time, it is because Ronaldo just blamed him for the paranormal activity and, when Lars tries to defend himself, Steven sides with Ronaldo. Lars feels ganged up on and bullied and is starting to fear they might be right. So he asks Sadie to leave with him, because _that’s a perfectly normal response to being stuck with someone you dislike who is picking on you and messing with your head_. While Lars’ response to her “I’m not ditching anyone” does sound rather cowardly (and whiny), from his perspective she _is_ ditching him and blowing off the fact that he feels bullied by Ronaldo and wants to get out of this uncomfortable situation (and, of course, away from the malicious “prank at his expense”). Also, everyone is still technically trying to leave the building, so _technically_ he isn’t asking her to abandon Ronaldo and Steven to the possessed building.  Once Sadie _does_ get in trouble, Lars doesn’t attempt to leave again and insteadfollows her voice deeper into the bowels of the building. Ahead of Steven and Ronaldo. Yes, just like he tells Sadie he did in the end. However, he understandably freezes in shock when he sees his name pulsing and glowing on the wall.

## Season 4

 **Tiger Philanthropist** \- Lars is so upset by Tiger P. and Purple Puma being beaten in the final wrestling match that _he tries to intervene by entering the ring_ and has to be escorted out the building. While it's clear that he's simply so distraught that he's unaware of his surroundings, this is still not what one would call a cowardly act.

 **I Am My Mom** \- Though he ends up fleeing in terror from Topaz, when he first snaps out of his frozen state and stands up, the change in music (which would later be revealed to be his battle theme) and his expression and posture prior to his succumbing to fear show exactly what sort of person Lars is deep down. When he flees, this is the only time in the show where Lars actually acts like a dirty coward when facing danger. And by dirty coward, I mean a perfectly normal teenager with severe anxiety who isn’t trained for battle, doesn’t have any special powers or anything, is facing a large enemy with super-strength, and is traumatized. How dare he. 

## Considering Wanted

His actions and dialogue in Wanted present other reasons why I feel like blowing pre-Wanted Lars off as a spineless coward is being unfair to his character, so I will now go over those episodes as well.

 **Stuck Together** \- Lars berates himself for abandoning Sadie, repeatedly putting himself down. His cowardly actions in the previous episode are seen and acknowledged to be a low point for him to the point where it’s clearly suggested that Lars very much considers it his “Greatest Failure,” once again underscoring the fact that _acting like a dirty coward is **not** true to his nature_. Lars also implies that he envies Steven’s bravery and how he’s always helping people (in other words, he envies Steven’s heroic nature). Later, after being comforted by Steven and giving comfort in return, Lars refuses to leave without Steven. This results in him losing his one chance to return home and escape what Topaz had just described as “the clutches of certain doom” (suggesting _both_ of them were to be killed). Wow. Such coward. Much dirty. Wow.

 **The Trial** \- Steven and Lars both fled the diamonds. No cowardice there. Just common sense.

 **Off Colors** \- The thread of thought from Stuck Together that Lars desires to be _heroic_ underneath his anxiety and alleged cowardice continues when he laments his lack of guts to stick up for anyone, even himself. This isn’t even true though, as I have already pointed out occasions where he risked his life saving people, like in Lars and the Cool Kids wherein the other teens would’ve _died_ if he wasn’t there to help Steven, _and_ stood up for himself as shown in Horror Club, however briefly. Once again, the implication is that Lars doesn’t just want to not be scared all the time, but wants to be a heroic person like Steven and the Crystal Gems, not out of a desire to be a lauded hero or be involved in some grand adventure, but simply because he believes _it’s the right thing to do_. 

As for Lars' actions in this episode, he runs and hides multiple times in the episode, both when faced with the unknown in the form of the off-colors and when the Robonoids first enter the area and start hunting for them. He only stops running and hiding after suffering a panic attack and Steven reassures him that it’s okay to be scared. After that, Lars finally comes to terms with his fear and rushes into battle, still openly terrified. However, due to his lack of any training in battle and physical weakness, Lars is incapable of helping outside of shielding the off-colors, knocking the Robonoids away, and drawing their attention (and potentially their fire) to him, and only manages to destroy one Robonoid by making a fatal heroic sacrifice.

 **Lars’ Head** \- Lars is _still scared_ throughout this episode, seeking reassurance from Steven several times. Even when he urges Steven and the Off Colors to take their chance to go to Earth and leave him behind, his fear becomes evident when his voice rises and his speech speeds up briefly. Lars is trying to do what he feels is right and perform a “beautiful act,” but he doesn’t actually _want_ to be left completely alone on a hostile planet he just died on. He’s still a cowardly lion ( _as he’s always been_ ), but now the lion part is emphasized over the “cowardly” aspect of the trope. 

## In Closing

As you can see, the vast majority of Lars’ patented “cowardly moments” were all either when he and others, sometimes even Steven, were fleeing a threat they _couldn’t_ fight (falling debris, a “poltergeist,” an invisible monster, combat tentacles, etc) or when he was facing an actual opponent without any sort of training or self-confidence (and neither weapon nor shield)

Sadie and Lars’ respective roles in Island Adventure in particular makes me wonder if Lars freezing, running and hiding from any potential life-or-death fight might not have to do with cowardice at all. The only reason why Sadie could fight and defeat the monster is because the mud made it visible, its attention wasn’t on her, and she had been spending the time they’ve been stuck on the island regularly “murdering fish” to keep everyone fed. She’d grown accustomed to the sensation of _pushing a life-ending blade through struggling flesh_.

> STEVEN: Sadie! Use your **fish-murdering skills**!

Of course, poofing a gem doesn’t destroy them, but any action necessary to do so would kill most organic beings, including humans. These kinds of actions do not come easily to most people, unless they’ve have the resolve. Practicing similar aggressive gestures, like spear fishing, also helps. Even with practice, taking aggressive defensive action can be hard, as shown when  _Connie_ froze on her first official mission, despite undergoing intensive training with Pearl and being recognized as a very courageous kid.

> CONNIE: I’m sorry…
> 
> PEARL: What?
> 
> CONNIE: I thought I’d be ready to fight, but I wasn’t. I failed.
> 
> PEARL: You weren’t supposed to fight, you were supposed to call me and you did. This was a total success.

It’s unfair to call Lars, who had no training, a coward for not fighting in such circumstances. After all, unlike Sadie, his role on the island was cook and medic (since Steven’s spit had stopped working earlier that season). He was woefully unprepared to take defensive lethal action against another living being.

Even later, in Lars Of The Stars, he had Stevonnie take non-lethal action against Emerald’s ship despite the risks being decisively not being in his favor. Their weapons and shields were down and their thrusters were severely damaged. Though Emerald retreated, there doesn’t seem to be anything stopping her from retracing her steps and tracking their ship down after making repairs or boarding another ship, especially since Lars lingered around the jungle moon for days, possibly _weeks_ , looking for Stevonnie. Captain Lars’ non-lethal way of dealing with his enemies, even when the risk is unreasonably high, brings another pink rebel leader to mind….

> BISMUTH: What type of leader doesn’t give her army the best chance to win?! How could you value the gems of our enemies more than our own? 

Possible Rose parallels aside, as for Lars’ laments in Wanted about never having the guts help anyone or stick up for himself contradicting events in previous episodes, we get an in-series explanation as to why Lars, who _has_ been brave and done good prior to his abduction and consequential abandonment of Sadie, would focus on his cowardice and failures when he tells Steven to return to Earth without him.

> LARS: Don’t argue with me! You’re always trying to help me. You brought me back to life. **Just let me be somebody who deserved it.**

Remember, not an hour before this, Lars had died _protecting_ Steven and people he only just met. He never comments on the fact that this happened or shows any sign of feeling like he accomplished anything good. Instead he very openly says he needs to do something to deserve being helped and brought back. This is not an “I owe you” and Lars did nothing bad enough to not deserve to live, not even close. 

This suggests Lars suffers from the Heroic Self-deprecation trope, wherein a heroic character constantly forgets the good they’ve done and focuses on their mistakes due to a very low sense of self-worth and self-esteem. Pearl suffers from this as well, but Lars is more realistic take on the trope since his best moments before Wanted  _are_ understated and easy to miss, so the trope is very much justified in his case. This isn't anything new to his character either since Lars has always been quick to dismiss any praise and compliment he receives, even in day-to-day life, and also quick to blame others for things going wrong, even when it’s implied that he secretly blames himself. 

So, just to recap.

  * Lars suffers from anxiety, but singling him out for cowardice, especially when he reacts the same as other characters, is unwarranted.
  * Lars was not accustomed to taking lethal action and acted accordingly.
  * Lars suffers from heroic self-deprication
  * Also Captain Lars is merciful, but not kind, to those who threaten him and his crew.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of this (except for the "In Closing" section) was written before SDCC 2017, then lost in chapter drafts on AO3 for almost a year. Oops.


	54. The Price of Resurrection: Equivalent Exchange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh… There’s my answer regarding the price of resurrection…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild spoilers for "Now We're Only Falling Apart"

In the latest episode, “Now We’re Only Falling Apart,” there was a notable focus on how nobody can create life out of nothing and… I think I know how resurrection works in SU. And it’s… kinda horrific. 

What happened when Steven resurrected Lars was that he basically passed on some of the stolen lifeforce from the colonized _planet(s)_  used to created Pink Diamond to him through his tears.

In other words, Lars is alive because _at least_ **one planet was stripped of its life-force, resulting in the deaths of trillions upon trillions of innocents** and a potent amount of that  _stolen life-force_  went to him when Steven cried on his corpse. No wonder Rose never used that power to resurrect the dead again. She would’ve known where the resurrected Lion’s life-force came from. No wonder Lars and Lion are essentially immortal (in the ageless/undead sense) magical beings. They’re like Steven Universe’s version of FMA’s  _Homunculi_ (except the souls of the dead aren’t literally in them, and also they’re not evil/made of evil).

That’s really horrific, and a huge burden for anyone to bear when it comes down to it. Gems have always lived an existence like this (as far as we know), but Lars was/is a  _human_. A being with his own life energy that wasn’t stolen from some place else. It isn’t natural for someone organic like him, and Lars has already expressed the belief that he needs to earn the right to live. Imagine how he’d feel if he found out that he’s actually living on the life-force of a now dead planet. Sure, the planet and everything on it died long ago (thanks to the process that later allowed him to be resurrected), but he’s still one “awful” teenage boy who “didn’t deserve to be brought back to life” living on the life energy that would’ve belonged to millions. 

Given his issues with self-loathing and the mentality he’s already shown after his resurrection, it’d be arguably in character for Lars to be really fucked up by this realization and become extremely obsessed with “earning” his place in existence through acts of heroism and toxic extremes of selflessness, because now he doesn’t have just his past mistakes as a dumb teen to “make up for.”

Of course, this might not come up at all in future episodes, but I doubt it. What Homeworld was doing to the Earth and how gems are made through that process has always been a major plot point in the backstory and the show hasn’t minced words about it or its effects in the past. With this in mind, I can’t see the show dancing around this topic in regards to what it means for Lars forever or showing his reaction.

Then again, in retrospect, his reaction and concern over having been resurrected makes a lot of sense. Lars is a smart kid. He probably realized his new life didn’t come from nothing as soon as Steven told him he brought him back to life. With this in mind, Lars’ belief that he didn’t deserve to be brought back and desire to become someone who did takes on a whole other meaning. After all, for all Lars knows, Steven had  _shortened his own life_  to bring him back.


	55. The Narrative Iceberg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mystery of Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz was quite possibly just the tip of the iceberg as it answered only one thing and solved only one problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major spoilers for Reunited.

**anonymous**   asked:

> What was the point of bringing Lars into the gem world if him and the Off Colors were left out of Reunited, probably one of the biggest battles in the series.

There’s still White Diamond and the rest of Homeworld. Yellow and Blue might not have a problem with the CGs anymore, but Lars and his crew are still wanted criminals (even tho they had no choice) so there’s probably going to be more conflict between the Diamonds and the CGs. This conflict might possibly reflect the one between them and Pink in the past and give Steven a reason to call them out for how they treated Pink and ignored her wish that they spare the Earth (in this case, Lars) and perhaps give the Diamonds a chance to show that they have learned not to dismiss their fellow Diamond’s feelings. Of course, another thing to remember is that Yellow and Blue may or may not end up becoming enemies of Homeworld for stepping out of line as Diamonds, since there’s some evidence that not even _they_ , the Diamond Authority, are free gems.

The mystery of Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz was quite possibly just the tip of the iceberg as it answered only one thing and solved only one problem: the conflict between Earth and the two _lower level_ Diamonds. 

We still don’t know how the Corruption happened or who was truly behind it, now that Yellow and Blue are in the clear. We don’t even know how much Yellow knows about the creation of the Cluster. She wants it and considers it hers, but how _involved_ was she in its creation? It’s possible that she’s in the same position as Peridot with the fusion experiments, which was considered her moral event horizon and a sign that she was irredeemable until she revealed that she wasn’t even around when those experiments began. (The Diamonds have plenty of other things to atone and make up for, though. I just doubt that the Cluster will be one of those things, due to the vagueness of the situation.)

On top of this, there are things about Homeworld that still need answering. For example, why did the gems go from venerating fusions to teaching that fusion, even between like gems, makes gems weak and sentimental?

>  [S1E52 Jail Break] JASPER: Oh great. You’re both out? And you’re fused again? Why? Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Gems stronger. Quit embarrassing yourselves!
> 
> [S5E01 Stuck Together] AQUAMARINE: That’s the problem with you fusions. Sooner or later, you all become sentimental.

The crewniverse has implied that these background details exist for a reason, so we’ll probably find out the backstory behind Homeworld’s hatred of fusion eventually. 

We don’t even know who _made_ the Diamonds and the first gems. None of the gems, Diamonds included, are born naturally and gemstones have been shown to work like computers, complete with glitch imagery when a gem is damaged. Could the Diamonds, or at least White Diamond, have been created as a superweapon capable of creating more weapons like it by an even more advanced, but almost certainly extinct, alien race for their own intergalactic war? Could it be, given the hints we have so far, that gems are just an extremely advanced form of artificial intelligence?

These mysteries were not available for the Crystal Gems to even know existed before Yellow and Blue stopped fighting them. So there will probably be plenty of big battles, possibly bigger than what we saw, that will involve Lars and his crew. Just not this one.


	56. The Diamonds in the Psychic Realm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Were the Diamonds aware of what was going on around them in the Psychic Plane near the end of Reunited?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major spoilers for Reunited (of course)

**Anonymous** asked 

> Hello, and I hope your having a good day! I’ve seen a few people make posts about this, but what is your take on the astral realm thing with the Diamonds? Yellow and Blue were seen talking to each other and it’s been up for debate whether they are aware of such a state and we’re communicating telepathically, or just talking as the battle was going on real-time. Thoughts?

Thank you! Yes, I’ve had a good day (and night). Hope you are, too. :)

They were definitely communicating in real-time, I think. There is no evidence that Diamonds can freely communicate with each other telepathically. Otherwise Pink probably would’ve just communicated her feelings towards Earth to them telepathically, thus removing the need to resort to desperate measures. Of course, it could just be that Pink was just a really young Diamond and hadn’t learned to project through Blue and Yellow’s powerful auras like we see Steven doing, but I digress. 

Steven can hear the thoughts of his friends, but verbal speech is implied to take place in real-time. Connie is clearly speaking in the real world when Steven wakes up, as is Garnet when she senses him. So if the Diamonds are communicating telepathically, they wouldn’t be speaking verbally and Yellow would be aware of Blue’s inner thoughts and Blue hers. On top of this, they’re shown to not be able to see Steven initially, which further suggests they aren’t aware of the psychic realm he’s in. It’s only after he’s tried to talk to both of them and starts trying it again from a distance that they notice him (or rather the vague yet strangely familiar aura emanating from his direction).


	57. The Lack of Solid Evidence Against the Diamonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’ve grown skeptical of the idea that every thing that’s been said or implied about the Diamonds is true or that they are truly irredeemable villains. There simply isn’t enough solid evidence for us to make that claim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written in response to the outrage over the implied Diamond redemption shown in the Podcast leak, but wasn’t posted due to the nature of those leaks and then lost in drafts. As such some speculation have been either confirmed or disproved. Also this was written before Rose was revealed to be Pink Diamond.

Sometimes I think people forget that things are rarely what they seem in SU.  Take Season 2 for example. In the first half of the season, we thought  _Peridot_ was behind the fusion experiments. It was even listed as her Moral Event Horizon on TV Tropes for a time, only for it to turn out that she had nothing to do with those experiments (other than checking their progress) and they predated her very existence.

> PERIDOT: When it became clear that the Earth was no longer a viable colony, Homeworld decided to use it for something else—a series of experiments. A gem geo-weapon.
> 
> STEVEN: Oh, did you help?
> 
> PERIDOT: Negative. I wasn’t lucky enough to be around for that. But I read over a few hundred years of reports. 

Looking over the past few seasons, I’m starting to think it’s the same with the  _Diamonds_. They were  _created_ to lead the other gems in their conquests to conquer other planets so more gems can be made and to execute gems who don’t adhere to the rules.  They are executioners and rulers, but by whose hand were they made? Who is the one really running the show?

There’s also some gaps in our information regarding their crimes.  Was Yellow really the one who officiated the experiments, or was it by the orders of another and Yellow just went with it in her grief and fury over Pink’s supposed death? Given Blue is Yellow’s equal in power and desires to preserve the Earth in some form in Pink’s memory, it’d be strange if the order came from Yellow and not someone higher up, since I can’t imagine Blue just bowing to Yellow’s wishes to have the Earth destroyed. Actually, are the Diamonds even aware that the fusion experiments are in constant pain and aren’t entirely mindless? What about Corruption? According to both Jasper and Peridot, there’s nothing like it on Homeworld, and Rhodonite says everyone was told the Earth was decimated by the Diamonds. Could it be that they intended to just wipe out the Crystal Gems to end the war and avenge Pink? Vengeful mass murder is still horrible, but it’s nowhere near as evil as purposefully condemning thousands or even millions, including faithful subordinates, to a fate worse than death.

Speaking of Pink, what about her? Was her reason for creating the human zoo really to collect war trophies? The treatment of the zoomans, though creepy, and Blue’s reasoning for wanting to gather more humans for it would suggest otherwise.

We also know from various statements of the Crewniverse that Blue and Yellow didn’t straight-up shatter the Zircons, despite Blue Zircon’s treasonous accusation, which is admittedly strange, considering all the threats of shattering they’ve made and their use of robonoids to destroy off-colors. Then again, are they the ones running the robonoids? Who started this trend of shattering gems who don’t fit the mold?  The assumption is that Blue and Yellow are the ones responsible, but  _we don’t know_.  That’s another gap in our information.

Now, one might bring up Yellow’s attempt to kill Peridot for her treasonous outburst as evidence that she is beyond redemption. Fair enough, except, well,  _Peridot_ attempted to kill Steven on sight when she first met him and tried to kill the CGs in Friend Ship (and came very close to crushing Garnet and Pearl).  I wouldn’t call pre-redemption Peridot evil, but she was  _very much_  a dangerous antagonist on the side opposing Earth. Another thing to note is that, while the communicator detonated, it didn’t detonate right away and gave a long warning to those nearby beforehand. So basically Yellow just cut off communication with Peridot in an extremely melodramatic fashion. Of course, she obviously didn’t care if Peridot escaped Earth before the Cluster formed or not, so she would’ve been indirectly killing her either way had the CGs not stopped the Cluster.

All in all, I’ve grown skeptical of the idea that every thing that’s been said or implied about the Diamonds is true or that they are truly irredeemable villains. There simply isn’t enough solid evidence for us to make that claim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get me wrong. The Diamonds did and tried to do terrible things, but I don't think everything we've been told is absolutely true. After all the people behind the show have always said, "There are no true villains in SU."


	58. Organic Life?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I may have missed yet another important spot check regarding the Diamonds in Message Received.

> YELLOW DIAMOND: How is... the Earth?
> 
> PERIDOT:  **It's... full of life.**
> 
> YELLOW DIAMOND: (disgusted)  ** _Organic_  life...**

I feel like I may have missed yet another important spot check here. Why  _organic_ life? Why not a term that would be more inclusive for both organic life and the corruption?

Looking at this scene again with the promo for “Legs From Here To Homeworld” in mind, Yellow really does sound completely unaware that  _any_ gems (non-organic life) other than the few surviving Crystal Gems, and Peridot and the two gems sent to Earth with her, are still living on Earth. The idea that the Earth might be also full of corrupted gems doesn’t seem to occur to her at all. Neither does the fact that the fusion experiments are (technically) alive.

I swear, sometimes I think Steven Universe is the softest mystery series ever. Which might not be an entirely off description of the show, now that I think of it. While not a mystery in the traditional sense, the show accuses/praises various character, presents crumbs of evidence that contradicts said accusation/praise (which may or may not be picked up by the viewers), and then further along the line reveals the truth.


	59. Death Omens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lars seemed incapable of taking two steps without foreshadowing for his death/resurrection coming up, though it’s true there wasn’t a whole lot of foreshadowing for him coming back pink (aside from perhaps Lars and the Cool Kids) or becoming a space pirate.

**[princess-unipeg](http://princess-unipeg.tumblr.com/)**  asks [mandareeboo](http://mandareeboo.tumblr.com/post/173737863657/when-did-the-crew-foreshadow-killing-off-lars):

> When did the crew foreshadow killing off Lars?

**[mandareeboo](http://mandareeboo.tumblr.com/post/173737863657/when-did-the-crew-foreshadow-killing-off-lars)**  answers [princess-unipeg](http://princess-unipeg.tumblr.com/):

> I dunno about foreshadowing (I can’t even imagine trying to foreshadow turning a character into a pink portal maker tbh), but they discussed in the podcast how they planned for him to be an undead zombie pirate since like season one lol. [Here’s a thing talking about some of it.](http://mandareeboo.tumblr.com/post/168557480262/enlightened-introvert-cartoonnetwork-you-do)

Actually, Lars couldn’t take two steps without foreshadowing for his death/resurrection coming up, though it’s true there wasn’t a whole lot of foreshadowing for him coming back  _pink_ (aside from perhaps Lars and the Cool Kids) or becoming a space pirate.

It’s to my belief that the only reason why nobody in the fandom picked up on the hints that he’d eventually die and come back was because of Lars’ initial unpopularity and the fandom’s original sin of brushing the humans off as inconsequential story padding (the fandom never learned). He did have some fans even back then, but it’s a bit hard to analyze a character for foreshadowing, symbolic or otherwise, when one is busy defending them from unruly haters, avoiding any discussion about them for fear of being attacked, or just trying to enjoy them in peace.

For starters, there’s his name, Laramie Barriga: “Tears of love; belly.”  Interestingly, Lars is usually short for Laurence, which is derived from laurel, which has symbolic meanings which also could’ve worked as foreshadowing for his death and resurrection, though in a more indirect and subtle way (except for one of those meanings being literally resurrection).  By giving him a name which is both unusual for Lars to be short for (in fact, Lars generally isn’t one of the nicknames for Laramie at all) and more directly meaningful in context of the show, attention is drawn to his name and its meaning. Though his last name didn’t even come up on the show until  _after_ Wanted, his first name was almost certainly picked for the sake of subtle foreshadowing.

Additionally, Lars always wore a death/rebirth symbol or omen somewhere on his person. Snake, scorpion, dead chick, skull. Organic things associated with death and resurrection (yes, even the skull is seen as a symbol of rebirth and resurrection, though it’s better known as a death symbol/omen). Chicks are normally associated with the life/birth side of the concept of rebirth, so him wearing a dead one was like adding a touch of death to what’s otherwise a life-centered symbol.

Excluding his name and taste in clothing, there are many other instances of foreshadowing for his death and resurrection. An argument, howbeit flimsy, could even be made for Lars’ very first line and conversation with Steven in the show being one. His line was a shout-out to a line from Midnight Cowboy, specifically a line given by a worldly disabled jerkass who helps out the naive main character and together with him tries to scrape together enough money to leave New York City for Florida, but dies on the journey. His quip to Steven about making his “wimpy ice cream” with his gem if he misses it so much could likewise be interpreted as referencing Steven’s grief over Lars’ death and his gem’s magic bringing him back (though that one is an even bigger reach)

Steven gave him an ominous warning in So Many Birthdays with the “everyone will grow up without you” part of the warning being emphasized particularly strongly. Lars’ death was the direct result of a series of events kicked off by him running and hiding from a threat like a frightened child (not “acting like an adult”). His death could’ve fulfilled Steven’s nigh prophetic warning on its own (as the dead don’t age), but while Lars didn’t stay dead, the magic that brought him back is heavily implied to have drastically slowed down the aging process for him, if not stopped it completely. 

There’s also the magic moss in Lars and the Cool Kids, which Steven compared him to. After it briefly engulfed Lars and everyone else, basically burying them, the moss bloomed (more like transformed) into pink blossoms, which can be read as foreshadowing for Lars dying and being resurrected as a pink magical being.  (AO3 edit: there's also the fact that the moss blossoms seem to be inspired by falling cherry blossoms, which are said to symbolize both rebirth and the fleeting nature of life, resulting in one of their meanings being "untimely death").

There’s an advertisement poster of an anthropomorphic pretzel breathing fire in the Big Donut with the words “so spicy you’ll die” written on it.  While Lars doesn’t die in Joking Victim, he does breathe fire in the episode and dies several seasons later.

Later, in Horror Club, he was sacrificed to, and summarily rescued from, a giant mouth reminiscent of how the hellmouth is traditionally depicted (complete with a glowing red maw).  Given the context, Ronaldo’s words to the “spirit” when he offers Lars to it, and the design of the mouth, the scene was arguably symbolic of sacrificial death and resurrection/rescue from hell, foreshadowing Lars’ heroic death in the dark bowels of Homeworld (perhaps even his offer to stay behind to save the off-colors and their refusal to abandon him).

The Foxman, Lars’ character in Garnet’s Universe, was symbolically killed, with Garnet swearing to avenge him, and resurrected with the power of a powerful gem (which Garnet held aligned with her stomach when resurrecting him).

As for Lars being a space pirate, he was depicted as a fox guarding a shrine in Garnet’s Universe (an anime themed episode) and there was the running joke of people assuming he is a thief or will grow up to become one.  It’s worth noting that in the mythology of many Eastern cultures, the fox is said to be a powerful magical trickster capable of  shapeshifting into a woman.  When looking through the series for all instances of symbolism and foreshadowing pertaining to Lars, I saw the fox and the thief jokes and considered the possibility of Lars becoming a cunning thief who disguises himself as a gem at some point while in Homeworld, but blew it off as unlikely. Other than these details, there’s not a whole lot of foreshadowing for the fact that he becomes a magical space pirate.

There was also some additional foreshadowing for Lars dying and becoming pink that didn’t make it into the show, like Steven selling pink lemonade in the episode Lars was originally planned to be killed and revived in (An Indirect Kiss), but I have no idea how that was supposed to foreshadow him becoming pink since we weren’t told what the actual details of that scene was going to be.

There’s probably more instances of foreshadowing or moments that can be interpreted as such, but these are just what I can think of at the top of my head.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I'm still catching this up with my Tumblr account here. I also have my hands full with roughly **30 works in progress** at the moment that I'm trying to wrap up. None of them relate to the current events regarding the Diamonds and Homeworld right now because, like I said, my hands are full.


	60. Shaped By The Author's Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot and recurring themes of Steven Universe were very likely inspired by Rebecca Sugar's Jewish beliefs.

  **[harryhenry1](http://harryhenry1.tumblr.com/) ** asked: 

> Adding to your bit about Lars' symbolism: Not sure if this was intentional, but "Lars" sounds similar to "Lazarus", the famous name of a person Jesus RAISED FROM THE DEAD. And taking into account Rebecca's jewish heritage, there's a whole lot of untapped religious analysis that can be done with the show.

Lars and Sadie were created before Steven Universe was even a concept, both the show and the character, so I doubt that. The pronunciation of Lazarus also differs from country to country. Here in the states, it doesn’t sound like Lars at all, so it’s hard to judge if his name was a factor in Rebecca’s eventual decision to kill him. Also I find that unlikely given that, as you said, Rebecca is Jewish.  Then again Lars’ parents have death-themed names associated with Catholicism and Martha is the name of Lazarus’ sister, so who knows?

Yeah, I agree, the show has arguably just as many Jewish themes as it does LGBT themes. For example, the major recurring themes of SU themselves potentially tie into ideas from Judaism. Every human being has both good and bad in them but mostly good, relationships (whether they be romantic or platonic) are necessary for a good life, nothing is black-and-white, etc.

Also Rose was honestly more of a Mosaic archetype than a Satanic archetype as most fans have been theorizing. Pink was raised as royalty and basically plagued Homeworld as Rose Quartz while demanding that the Diamonds let the Earth and gems that don’t fit in Homeworld’s regime go, which eventually resulted in her faking her own death (arguably like a sort of metaphorical take on the “death of the firstborn” plague) whereas Lucifer was a  _high-ranking angelic servant_  who grew proud and sought to become a god himself before being struck down from heaven. Of course, it should also be noted that the Satan in Judaism is very different from the version in Christianity which the Satanic archetype is based on.

Steven’s role in the series fits the Jewish interpretation of the Messiah better than the Christian version since it’s likely he will usher in an era of peace for Homeworld and Earth. Interestingly, the series takes place nearly 7000 years after the start of the Rebellion (the seventh millennia being the millennia of the prophesied Messianic Age). Steven’s role as a symbolic Messiah makes Lars’ shades of the Messianic archetype (which would be better called the Jesus archetype in this case) arguably fitting as he’s Steven’s foil and written counter to him. Interestingly, the fact that Steven Universe’s major religious themes almost certainly come from Judaism rather than Christianity would make Lars a metaphorical  _false_ messiah, though it doesn’t necessarily make him a Dark Messiah. Rather, it’s likely that Lars is meant to be a more realistic take (i.e., a “deconstruction”) on the ~~Messianic~~ Jesus archetype rather than a straightforward example. 

Just some general thoughts on the subject. It’s not clear if this is all intentional, but it’s very likely as the show is based on Rebecca’s experiences as a nonbinary bisexual Jewish woman.

 


	61. The Leak, The Bingo, & The Skeptic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I share my skepticism about certain supposed leaks regarding Lars' future and CN's bingo cards for Steven Universe.

 [[Jul. 16, 2018](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/174940369954/i-do-wonder-where-lars-story-is-going-ive-heard)] 

 **Anonymous** asked:

> I do wonder where Lars' story is going. I've heard hints that "something bad" will happen to him that will mean "he won't be a character anymore", but I can't even imagine what that means. Would he leave Earth behind forever? Put in some kind of limbo or stasis? 

Believe it or not, if those leaks are genuine (which I have reason to doubt), I actually suspect they might’ve been referring to him becoming a space pirate, since (if I remember correctly) these rumors first came out  _before_ the Lars Of The Stars promo and there hasn’t been any new rumors regarding this supposed “bad thing” happening to Lars since then (fan theories regarding the rumors do not count). My reason being that a lot of fans were actually worried when they saw the promo of him being a confident badass space pirate. While most fans loved it, some fans felt like Lars was no longer a “real character” because it looked like he’d become a totally different person. Some fans even got mad and threatened to quit the fandom in disgust. And a few fans were convinced that the promo was a sign that Lars had become too cool to live and that the rumors were referring to something that would happen to him during LotS (which spawned more theories regarding what these rumors mean). For the most part, all of this died down after Stranded aired, of course.

 

[[Jul. 26, 2018](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/176294382414/a-legitimate-source-did-say-something-happens-to)]

 **Anonymous** asked:

> a legitimate source did say something happens to lars but not to panic over it so it's not like he's gonna die or anything but the possession thing is likely (but probably not permanent at all)

Would a gem like White Diamond really want to enter the mind of a lowly “disgusting” organic being though?

I’m pretty sure we are talking about the same (fairly recent) source, in which case I would have to say that I saw nothing in their reply that supported the leak that something awful will happen to Lars and he’ll cease to be a character. They outright said “I don’t know about that” about the rumor and then said whatever does happen to Lars is  _vague_  (they didn’t even specify whether that thing would be bad or good). Being possessed and turned into a puppet for White or otherwise reduced to “not being a character at all” isn’t exactly what I’d call  _vague_. It’s an intriguing idea however.

Personally, I do think something not particularly happy probably will happen to Lars (if he appears in this current arc). But not because of some overly dramatic ancient rumors from last year. It’s because Steven and the Diamonds are now working together (for now) and Lars is a wanted criminal of some infamy who has been fighting against the Diamonds and their strict authoritarian regime for at least two months at this point. I can’t see an encounter between Captain Lars and the Diamonds ending particularly well.

Also, it’s Lars. Bad things happen to him all the time.

Oh…. I probably should’ve saved the link/image of it and included it here (and included the word allegedly somewhere in the original post since we are talking about leaks and leakers). I also probably should not have posted this right before going to bed for the night. I have a post regarding the leak, a screenshot of it at least, somewhere in my drafts, but digging it out is probably going to take a while, sorry. But the original post was from the su leaks reddit, I believe.

 **Edit: Oh wow. Never mind. Sorry. I somehow combined two leaks into one.**   I’ll just go curl up and die from embarrassment now. 

For reference, this leaker gave out details on Raise The Barn’s plot before it aired. As you can tell, I got most of the wording wrong, but my point remains. This person seems to be somewhat skeptical of the post-Wanted Lars angst leak. If more than one leaker of questionable legitimacy allegedly stumbled on the same leak, then why hasn’t a leaker that’s been shown to be legit on more than one occasion stumbled across the same leak?

It’s also important to note that apparently the angst leakers were best known for their  _fanart_ , so I don’t think they were exactly known for their leaks before they decided to dramatically quit the fandom on the grounds of something horrible happening to Lars in the future. Also if the leak is legit and they just leaked a HUGE event on the show, then why didn’t they vague leak any of the huge developments that have already occurred this season before “whatever happens to Lars”?  You know, like Rose being Pink Diamond, Lars becoming a space pirate, Yellow and Blue attacking the Earth directly, White Diamond’s reveal, Sapphire and Ruby’s wedding, even Sadie quitting the Big Donut to join a band…. A  **lot** happens this season that’s left the fandom reeling, yet somehow  _none of it_  made these leakers bat an eye except for whatever happens to Lars. That’s a bit suspicious, don’t you think?

 

[[Jul. 26, 2018](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/176317090514/so-based-on-your-posts-you-think-the-rumored)]

 **Anonymous** asked

> So based on your posts you think the rumored “leaks” on Lars being permanently gone are fabricated?

**YES.**  Definitely. I’m 100% certain those leaks were fabricated.

Though I like to joke/crack theorize that the rumors were actually about Captain Lars since the leaks came out before the LotS promo was shown at comic-con, if I remember correctly, and I know not everyone was happy about Lars becoming a badass space pirate in his very next appearance after Wanted. Some of the complaints sounded a bit like how the rumors worded Lars’ “horrible fate.”

 

[[Jul. 27, 2018](https://metawasteoftime.tumblr.com/post/176331911804/what-about-the-bingo-space-lars-comes-home)]

 **Anonymous**  asked 

> What about the Bingo Space: “Lars Comes Home”? Pretty much all the bingo spaces on bingo card 1 have gone true (and bingo card 2 is still in the works and will probably carry over into season 6). 

 Hmm, I actually really disagree with the common fandom belief that every bingo space will come true. Bingo is a game of chance so there has to be a chance that something _won’t_  happen. Otherwise, why call it a bingo?  And if all bingo spaces are true, then the bingo card is just a list of spoilers where the game isn’t  _which_ of them will come true, but  _when_. I’m not particularly fond of that idea. I think it’s both bad and ridiculous. CN has made some really terrible decisions, but I don’t think even they’d do something like publish two cards of  _fifty spoilers_ of varying degrees of severity. 

I should probably also point out that, looking at the original posts for both of them, card one was posted for the airing of the six episodes between Wanted and Stranded, and card two was called the Heart of the Crystal Gems bingo specifically (and that event ended with Reunited). Take that as you will.

I’m sure Lars will come home eventually. I just think it’s unlikely to happen this season at this point.

 


	62. The Necessity of Lars' Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lars' growth in Season 5 wouldn't be half as meaningful if we didn't see his life before space.

[**harryhenry1**](http://harryhenry1.tumblr.com/) asked:

> I think a lot of people do miss WHY the Beach City characters are even in the show, or why it spends so much time with them. SU is all about how Steven is this "link" stuck between two worlds: The gem world, and the human world. If it were ALL gem stuff ALL the time with little-to-no attention on the human characters, that connection wouldn't be as strong. Plus the development of someone like Lars wouldn't be AS impactful if we didn't already know his history on Earth. Your thoughts?

Yeah, I agree, though part of the problem lies with the writing. The narrative itself treats the humans like they aren’t important. Lars was even outright stripped of his humanity before he took on a bigger role and the humans are repeatedly shoved to the sidelines even when it would make sense for them to become more involved. It’s very frustrating to be honest.

As far as Lars’ arc goes, I agree wholeheartedly. Right now, he’s full of regret, remorse, and self-loathing over his past actions, outright saying he didn’t deserve to be resurrected and heavily implying he believes his friends would be perfectly justified in hurting and abandoning him for punishment. I think if people hadn’t seen his history on Earth, there would probably be a lot of theories out there regarding what horrible thing Captain Lars could’ve done in the past to make him like that. Most would probably theorize that he was a murderer or led people who followed him to their deaths in the past or used to be an outright sadistic villain like Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (partly because SU fans always make things out to be darker and edgier than they are, though also because of Lars’ attitude about the whole thing). 

His canon history would’ve been an  _extremely_ underwhelming reveal. All that regret, shame, and self-loathing, and he was just a normal anxious angry teen who would blow off his friends due to his personal issues instead of opening up to them and admitting when he needed help. Lars’ arc works  _because_ we saw what he was like before he became a space pirate. It makes his issues towards himself more poignant and understandable than they otherwise would be.


	63. A Secret Expression of Self

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are multiple clues that Lars made his “lame” secret cookbook from scratch.

I literally just noticed Lars’ secret cookbook is a regular hardback school notebook and the photo of the ube roll is a polaroid photo taped inside (you can very faintly see the tape up close).

It’s unlikely that it was created by anyone other than Lars, given that it’s homemade and hidden under his mattress. It would be weird if someone else in his family put it together, because then Lars would be hiding a cookbook someone else made from scratch under his mattress (rude much?).

Which would mean Lars took a normal hardback school notebook, copied down recipes he liked in it by hand, put a space between the recipe names and the recipes themselves so he could tape photos he took of the finished results of said recipes inside, marked the recipes with pretty hearts, and included his own additional notes.

With this in mind, I can actually understand why Lars would hide this under his mattress as if it were a dirty magazine. The potential deep embarrassment of people finding it wouldn’t stem solely from his insecurities about his love of baking, but rather the fact that he made this adorable “lame” cookbook from scratch. His love of baking is “embarrassing and shameful,” but his cookbook is personal and an expression of himself.


	64. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick observation about Lars' waking moments in The New Lars.

Okay. So.

Lars was naked in bed when Steven possessed him.

In the end, when he woke up in Sadie's arms, he didn't jerk away and was only alarmed when he realized he wasn’t in his room and saw everyone else.

>  LARS: Mmm, huh? Sadie?

> LARS: How did I get here? What are you all doing here?

It’s not like he forgot he was naked before either, given his reaction to realizing Steven had spent a day in his body.

So, yeah, Lars apparently trusts Sadie so much that he could fall asleep naked and wake up in her arms unexpectedly dressed, and be just sort of groggy and confused. 

That's sorta sweet, but also a bit heartbreaking. It just goes to show how vulnerable Lars is with her despite everything.


	65. [Discarded Theory] Lars Will Forget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So many bad things have happened to Lars at this point that the worst thing that can happen to him now that hasn’t already happened (on some level) is if he lost his memories of the events of Season 5.

I had a couple of really sad dreams when I was starting to wake up yesterday that made me realize that so many bad things have happened to Lars at this point that  **literally the worst thing that can happen to him now that _hasn’t_ already happened (on some level) is if he lost his memories of the events of Season 5**. And is aware of what’s happening as he forgets. That would be devastating on so many levels, both for the cast and for the audience, but it has some rather attractive features to it.

It would fit Lars’ theoretical theme of enduring various common and primal fears firsthand. Going through a life-changing experience, then having it scrubbed from one’s mind would be really horrible and terrifying, especially for someone with a lot of regrets about their life and attitude before that point.

It would explain why the audience  _had_ to miss so much of his character development and growth in Season 5. Because that part of his development wasn’t meant to be permanent character growth, but growth that would be brutally and devastatingly undone so new growth would have to take place in the ashes of the old growth. So Captain Lars would basically be a sneak peak at his true potential and then we have to watch him regrow into a brave and confident heroic young leader in a more organic way. He wouldn’t need much development to get back to where he was in Wanted, assuming he doesn’t forget about running and hiding on the ship, but getting back to where he was in Stranded would probably take some doing.

It would work his parallels with Pink Diamond into his role as a foil to Steven by presenting Captain Lars as the Rose to Lars’ Steven, where Lars develops something of a complex about his forgotten badass heroic matured self since he can’t remember, but people would tell him things about it. Like, Lars is a self-loathing mess who has already been shown to be quick to consider himself a bad person. I can see him fearing that his friends are hiding something from him and thinking that he must’ve been a really awful person, since the last thing he remembers is hiding on the ship instead of helping Sadie and he basically just “woke up” to find himself pink and no longer quite human (and missing several months of his life), while also being scared that maybe he  _was_ a great person and will never be again.

((Steven might also have to explain to Lars about him dying and being resurrected…))

It would allow the show to discuss a different type of grief and loss, the grief and loss of memory and how it affects both the people that forget and their loved ones that remember.

It would make the fact that Steven doesn’t have the ability to restore memories an important plot element. He wasn’t able to restore Centi’s memories from “Monster Buddies” in “Monster Reunion” and Nephrite didn’t remember being corrupted at all when he and the Diamonds temporarily healed her. So if something happens to Lars’ memories, Steven can’t restore them.

It would mean we  _might_ get to see flashback episodes about the space pirates when his crew tells him and Steven about some of their adventures in space with Captain Lars.

I can’t believe a part of me is now starting to root for Lars’ memories to be traumatically wiped. Of course, even if this doesn’t happen, it would make for an interesting fic, if a bit angsty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This theory is from August. I've long since discarded it, but it might be an interesting idea for an angst fic or something.


End file.
